Chaos Effect: Dawning
by Freeride600
Summary: Before the 517th Commando unit, there were individuals. What made those individuals a squad - and what tore them apart? Tales of the ructions, retributions and revelations faced by the main characters of Chaos Effect: First Contact. An addendum between CE:FC and CE2.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: So, here we are again with another bit of Chaos Effect!**

**I began Dawning as an interim project before starting Chaos Effect II. It's set in various time periods, both before and after First Contact. As a heads up, CE:D is going to be a lot shorter than my CE:FC or CE2. Look at it as a miniseries of sorts, filling in bits of backstory and the like. The chapters are short and the series is short. On the bright side, I should be able to update Dawning more often.**

**If you haven't read Chaos Effect:First Contact, be warned. There are serious spoilers here, but more than anything it probably won't make a whole lot of sense. I'd humbly suggest that you go take a gander at CE:FC if you haven't already. ;)**

**Small print: As always, the Mass Effect Universe is the creation and property of Bioware and EA. The Chaos Effect story and characters are mine.**

**Let us waste no more time!**

**xxxx**

_Chapter 1 – Foundations_

_Camo & Krooked – Make the Call_

xxxx

The date was March 2009. The 517th Commando unit was on standard patrol. Well, standard by any traditional definition – the AMF Akina was coasting through uncharted space well past Council jurisdiction, well past any colonies or any remnants of civilization. Hell, not even pirates dared to venture out that far.

Then again, the 517th wasn't exactly known to follow the rules. Kaira T'Suni had always caused problems in citadel space, operating just outside of Council jurisdiction, following her code rather than the pacts that divorced the Terminus from internal space. That was why the Council had chosen her to investigate an unidentified, static signal originating from an uncharted sector.

In all likelihood, it was a faulty reading caused by outdated equipment. There had been no sign of resources in that sector, so only minimal funding had been provided; the teams responsible for monitoring the vast sector were operating on old equipment that was obsolete on all fronts. Either way, it was a convenient opportunity for the Council to send T'Suni out and not have to worry about her stirring up trouble.

"Any updates?" The Spectre asked, making her way into the Akina's cockpit and leaning on the back of the pilot's chair and staring ahead into space. She was hopeful, but unconvinced that they would actually find anything. In all odds, the mission was just another wild varren hunt from the Council. Even at that, the Council had simply sent them coordinates to investigate.

"Nothing yet." Evitha T'Vanalia shook her head, adjusting in the chair and leaning on her right elbow as she scanned over various haptic panels and readings. "Do you really think we'll find anything?"

Kaira shook her head as she wandered over to the long-range sensors. "I doubt it, but it's hard to tell now. Then again, we are dealing with unexplored space."

"I suppose so." The pilot conceded. She had learned to expect the unexpected when Kaira was in charge. Several decades of experience had seasoned her to the Spectre's antics, and the altercations that resulted from them. "On the bright side, I doubt any mercs would follow us out this far."

The commander took a closer look at one section of LADAR scan. Something caught her eye. "Can you run a closer scan on bearing 24 starboard, elevation 10?"

"Copy." Evitha responded, leaning forward in her seat and running through console several commands. After a second, she added: "Try that."

Kaira was silent for several seconds, watching the display closely. "There. Is that a relay? An active relay?"

"Hmm…" The pilot muttered, leaning half out of her chair and taking a closer look at the scan results. "Frequencies match up. Heat signatures line up, too."

"Take us in for a closer look. I want constant updates on local scans. If this is some sort of trap…" The Spectre shook her head. "Just be ready to raise shields and activate weapon systems."

"Understood." Evitha nodded, leaning forward and beginning to run through commands and haptic panels. The ship's thrusters activated in short bursts, changing the course and then equalizing everything out.

"Let me know if anything changes." Kaira said as she stepped away. "I'm going to make sure the squad is ready to go."

xxxx

"Commander." Rana acknowledged with a nod, looking up from a console in the engineering bay, pausing her work for just long enough to make eye contact. "I have nearly broken the Red Suns encryption. I doubt it shall be longer than a few hours before I have usable information from their databanks."

Like usual, the engineering bay was empty except for the younger engineer. Despite her time with the squad, Rana seldom left engineering. It showed, too. There were boxes of parts perched precariously on shelves, omni-tools scattered about in various states of disassembly, and a few unfinished, undistinguishable projects lay around. Kaira didn't ask questions. The young engineer was trustworthy and a hard worker; she always got projects done ahead of schedule. More often than not, the commander had to tell Rana to stop working and go get some sleep or food.

"Nice work, Rana." The Spectre nodded, pacing slowly. "I actually came here about something else."

"Really?" The engineer perked up, stopping her work entirely and blurting out a few ideas: "Do you have more decryption work? Perhaps I need to edit Red Suns weapon orders again?"

"No, no. It's nothing like that. It doesn't have anything to do with any mercenaries." Kaira began, giving the younger Asari time to process and think.

"Ah… my apologies then." T'Lan rubbed her forehead nervously. She was curious; the commander always had interesting jobs. But she was always worried that she couldn't get things done in time. "I am out of guesses, but I am intrigued to know what you're are considering."

Kaira nodded, smiling a little. "We might have just found an uncharted relay." She paused, chuckling as the engineers eyes widened. "I thought you might want to run initial scans on it. See if it's been used lately, how long it's been active. That type of thing."

"I-I-I – yes!" Rana stammered. "I have hoped to see an uncharted relay. We studied them for a entire semester in the University, but never had the opportunity for field work. Theories suggest that the mass effect fields surrounding them take on a different shape after long periods without usage. I have never been able to witness the effect firsthand, but…"

"Good." Kaira replied. "We're still a few hours away, but I thought I'd let you know… in case you need time to get ready or anything."

"Of course. Thank you for this opportunity."

Kaira just gave the engineer a pat on the shoulder. "Any time. It's not every day you get to scan a quiet relay."

Rana just shook her head, still thinking about the possibilities. "Do we have any idea where it leads to? Or what might have activated it?"

The commander just shook her head. "Nope. It's completely uncharted. Unless you can identify it and match it up to pre-rebellion records, it's a new entity."

"I suppose that is true. And this far into unmapped space, it is unlikely that it drifted out of place." Rana could barely contain herself. She had studied less active relays, but there were none left in the known galaxy. "I still cannot believe that we have found a relay. It has been nearly 130 years since the last discovery was documented…" She paused. "Do you think the relay is responsible for the erratic signal that brought us here?"

"Hopefully you'll be able to tell us when we get actual scans on it." Kaira shrugged. "You're the specialist here."

"That is not entirely accurate –" Rana quickly protested. "I only studied relays for a few weeks. Most of my time was devoted to new systems. Omni-tools, programming, and the like."

"Remember when you were able to track pirates based on relay disturbances?" Kaira pointed out. "I'd say you're qualified."

Rana looked down. She still couldn't take compliments from the commander. Not even after almost fifteen years on the 517th. and she certainly didn't know how to respond. "I…thank you."

Kaira nodded once. "Your technical skills are nothing to put down, Rana. You're one of the most talented coders I know."

"Along the lines of coding… I had a request." Rana began, looking back to the commander.

"I'll see what I can do."

"I would like to start designing custom firmware for our omni-tools. None of the market options provide enough expandability, and real-time cracking programs are becoming more prevalent. Having unique firmware would allow us more flexibility and offer more protection in the field."

"You…can do that?" Kaira asked, raising her brow. Omni-tool software had always been a part of the squad budget. "I'm not doubting your abilities, but that's a considerable undertaking."

"I have accepted that." Rana nodded, fairly certain that she would have time to work on such a project. But it was something she wanted to do. "I will make certain that it does not interfere with priority work."

Kaira just watched the younger commando for several seconds, scanning her face. Seeing how much she actually wanted to take such a big project on. "Alright. You have my bidding to start. Let me know how it goes."

"Thank you, commander." Rana nodded eagerly, smiling broadly and briefly. "I will do my very best."

"I don't doubt it."

xxxx

"I hope you can put all your weapons back together in time if need be." Kaira regarded the arms specialist suspiciously. The armory was particularly messy this time, several sniper rifles torn down completely, a shotgun broken in half, accelerator coils in a disorderly stack that was about to tip over, but that didn't generally bother Kaira. The fact that weapons remained in disassembled state as long as possible, on the other hand, bothered her.

"What?" Delina just shrugged, nonchalant about it all. Sure, she had a few projects going on. "I could put all of these back together in five minutes tops."

Kaira shook her head and stifled a heavy sigh. As good as Delina was in combat, she still refused to behave like a normal commando. For Kaira, that was a small price to pay. Yet she also knew that all of their weapons were in working order to begin with and still the arms specialist tore most of their firearms apart and ordered aftermarket components. "Delina… we've been over this before. Are weapon mods really necessary at this intensity?"

"Why not?" Delina countered, shrugging and hiding a smirk. "It gives us an edge. And it can't do any harm."

The Spectre folded her arms and regarded Delina skeptically. "Last week you had a heatsink blow up in the middle of a fight."

The arms specialist just snorted and waved the concern away. "That was a faulty unit. It was going to give out regardless of any mods. I'll go ahead and blame Tryton for that one."

"Or maybe the time that you broke… what was it? 15 accelerator coils trying to spec out your HK?" Kaira continued, calmly pushing the issue.

"Oh come on." Delina rolled her eyes. "You're fussing about nothing. Nobody got hurt, and I was able to fix it on my own time. Besides, it was only 13 coils."

"Right." Kaira tried not to scowl. 13 or 15, the point remained. "I understand you want to mod our weapons. But I can't keep budgeting these costly mistakes. Despite how it may seem, my resources are limited."

"Really?" T'Kasan raised her brow in sneaking interest, her voice as much playful as it was malicious. "Last time I checked, your boyfriend could get mil-spec components for dirt off a varren."

"Give it a rest." The commander warned quietly. She had been working with Delina longer than she had been with Tahre Matroclus. And she had yet to see the end of the subordinate commando's teasing. Well, it was more taunting.

"What?" Delina drawled with overly feigned innocence. "He still get _anything_ for you, can't he?"

"Give it a rest." Kaira warned, almost growling.

"Alright then." Finally Delina relented. Where most Asari could take a hint, she insisted on pressing an issue. So Kaira usually had to keep her in line. In the seconds of silence, Delina just folded her arms and leaned back against a bench, trying to fight back a stupid smirk. "So since you're here, do you want a quick report on weapon condition?"

Kaira agreed begrudgingly.

"Welllll…" Delina began, rubbing her hands together and walking over to another bench and looking at a disassembled assault rifle. Kaira's SG17a, to be specific. "Remember the problems you had with this thing stuttering with every burst?" The arms specialist picked up an accelerator coil and paused long enough for Kaira to nod. "Well, it turns out the space pyjac at Synerge got the polarity wrong on the third coil."

"How come it didn't just blow up?" Kaira asked, cocking her head as she took the coil and inspected it closer.

"I dunno." Delina shrugged. "But I'm replacing them with Havok coils."

Kaira was skeptical. "Are you sure that'll work?"

"Sure. It'll take a little bit of modding, but I'll make it work. They're kinda similar."

"Alright… that's your call. So long as it works, and doesn't blow up in my face… I have no grounds to complain."

Delina raised her brow inquisitively. To her, that sounded like a standing offer.

"That doesn't mean you can go completely overboard." Kaira quickly clarified, picking up on the arms specialist's impish ambition.

"Aww." Delina feigned hurt and pouted for a second. But she was hardly torn up. Actually, she was already trying to envision how to retrofit the Havok coils into a Synerge rifle. She'd never liked the Synerge coils – they always seemed flimsy and prone to overheating.

"There's another thing." Kaira began, clasping her hands behind her back and pacing again. "We've found a new relay."

The arms specialist nearly dropped the coil that she was holding and sputtered for a few seconds. "_What_? Where? Where does it go? Can we find out?"

The commander was slightly surprised by the outbreak of enthusiasm. It was unlike Delina to show so much excitement. Then again, the arms specialist had always wanted to venture off into various, uncharted sectors of the Galactic Rim. Time and time again she had begged the commander to see how far the Akina could go on a tank of gas. Kaira explained. "We're closing in on it now. It'll probably be a while before we can get a proper reading, and there's no way to tell if the other side is active."

"Ok. Yeah. I get it. I'll get our weapons up to spec. Just in case we need to do a ground mission any time soon. I mean, you never know."

"You don't." Kaira replied simply, not wanting to get the younger commando too stirred up but not wanting to crush her hopes and dreams. "We'll meet in the combat center when we get closer."

"Right-O." Delina nodded. "So… how do you feel about explosive rounds?"

xxxx

"Evitha, can you bring the relay up on our main scanners?" Kaira asked, leaning onto the edge of the holo-projector and using the intercom to contact the pilot.

"_Sure thing, commander. Bringing them up now."_

Kaira just watched as the 3D form of the mass relay sprang up in holographic form, rather pixilated as the scan completed. She glanced at the other two members of their ground team; the yellow light highlighted their complexions. Both were excited about, or at least interested in, the relay. And as the scan gained more clarity their attention intensified.

But Kaira's mind was already wandering. There were possibilities. It could have been a trap, and ships could leap out and ambush them as they idled a short distance from the relay. There were implications. What was on the other side? How would it affect the galaxy? There were ramifications. If she alerted the Council, they would fuss and shut it down. If she didn't… they were even less predictable.

"Commander…" Rana began, not looking up from her omni-tool as she scanned over columns of raw data. "The relay connection is fully active, signature 258. According to the energy levels, the opposite relay is linked and the corridor is traversable. I am acquiring the transit vectors now."

"Aw hell yeah." Delina beamed, banging her head once out of eagerness. "Any sign of traffic? Anyone we can shoot?"

"I…" Rana began to protest, then trailed off as she continued her analysis. "There seems to be no disturbance to the mass effect fields. If other ships have activated the link, it has not been recently."

"So, Kaira…" Delina began, looking to the commander hopefully.

The Spectre just shook her head. "It's generally a bad idea to jump through unexplored relays."

Delina let out a loud groan of disappointment.

"Commander…" Rana started, rather mumbling as she inspected the data downloaded from the relay. "Somebody wrote specific coordinates into the relay cache. T'Vanalia, I am forwarding them to you now."

"_Got 'em."_ The pilot responded, still over the intercom. _"Bringing them up on nav display." _There was a pause. "_So… they match up with our grid network. Looks like a planetary system on the other side of the relay. Nine major planets circling a star."_

Kaira was suspicious of the added info. "Rana, do relays usually carry this sort of info?"

"I… no, not as far as I know. We did not research relay storage extensively, but… from what I understood, it is nearly impossible to alter the information that they carry." The engineer replied, looking up for a minute.

"I mean the coordinates. Why are they on there? _Someone_ had to tamper with it."

"I do not know…" Rana began, working through more data. "I may be able to trace the data… and at least tell you when it was entered."

"Do that. Something's off here." Kaira shook her head as she looked at the holo of the relay.

"Yeah? And?" Delina asked suddenly. "I say we go see what's on the other end. If anyone tries to give us trouble, we fuck them up."

Kaira didn't bother mentioning that they were just a light frigate. The extent to which they could 'fuck up' hostile ships was severely limited.

"Goddess… have I lost my bearings?" Rana muttered, wildly scrolling through the relay data for a moment before looking at Kaira and stating, "The coordinate info has erased itself. I see now that it was loaded with tracers… as soon as I accessed it, self-deletion protocols were activated."

"_We still have the info on board… it's not completely gone."_ Evitha piped up on the intercom.

"Rana, this is serious. Is there anything else that we downloaded that poses a threat to the Akina's mainframe?" Kaira asked, able to smooth the alarm out of her voice.

"No." Rana closed her omni-tool and looked at the relay holo curiously. "The only protocols were contained in the relay copy of the data. I can see no other malicious files."

"So then…why delete the original? We've got the location data." Kaira shrugged and looked at Rana for an answer.

"I've got it." Delina suddenly piped up. "Whoever put that data there only wanted it to be used once. To give explorers an edge."

Kaira was about to discount the arms specialist's crackpot theory, but Rana replied first: "I am inclined to agree with Delina. It was a very specific code, designed for a single usage."

"Alright. Say that is the case. Can you tell who wrote it?" Kaira asked.

Rana brought her omni-tool up and spent a few seconds tearing through a clunky UI. "I do not recognize the language. It was engineered to be compatible with our systems, but… it matches none of our scripting. Perhaps it was added by the same people who built the relays."

Kaira was quiet for several seconds, thinking through the outcomes of each potential decision.

"Come on, Kaira…" Delina pressed. "We've never gotten to do something like this before. Don't you wanna know what's on the other side?"

"That depends," Kaira replied, "On what awaits us on the other side."

"There's only one way to find out." Delina pointed out, folding her arms and watching the commander intently. "And besides, if there's trouble on the other side… you don't really want to leave it for somebody else to find, right?"

"I would also add that we seldom have the opportunity to chart new areas of space." Rana added, voice quiet. "I do not mean for my personal interest to affect your judgment, but… it is an incredible opportunity."

Kaira stared at the holo for several minutes. She couldn't deny her own curiosity, but there was much more on the line. Finally she spoke: "Evitha…"

"_Yes Commander?"_

"Take us through the relay."

xxxx


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2 – Battlefields_

_Gojira – Flying Whales_

xxxx

_December 1855, Ahrantoh_

The 34th commando unit consisted of ten Asari commandos, hardened veterans and promising second rank specialists. Commander T'Jehna lead the unit as she had for 50 years. She was respected for her cunning and disliked for her tactics. She did not play fair; she played to win. Many matriarchs saw her as reckless and ruthless; a hazard to order. True, T'Jehna had been raised in the Terminus and had lived through many shady battles, but somehow she had kept her integrity. Her squad respected her – she held her word and took extreme measures to keep them alive.

Only now the Verge rebellions were well under way. Times had changed. The same people who had frowned upon guerilla tactics had assigned T'Jehna to lead her unit right into the heart of the rebel world Ahrantoh.

The ten commandos moved in on a rebel base. A fortified stronghold filled with drugged-out lunatics. T'Jehna had realized early on that they were not dealing with regular people; regular people would take prisoners, or perhaps stop fighting when both of their knees were shattered from accelerated projectiles. Not rebels dosed on tarania powder.

Tarania powder was mean stuff. It was a stimulant originally used just to keep people awake on long shifts on shipping freighters skimming through the Terminus. But as it turned out, it effectively deadened pain receptors and shut down brain regions responsible for judgment and impulse control. It made the rebel addicts twitchy, hyperactive, unpredictable maniacs.

For Kaira T'Suni, a second rank Adept, it was the first dedicated combat mission. She had trained for years, served as an espionage specialist, shadowed countless missions… but she had never been exposed to the rigors of the battlefield. Granted, it was a matter of trial by fire. Dealing with the rebels was either kill or be killed. There were no alternatives, no middle ground. No talking it out. So far T'Suni was holding in there. She was assigned to second point, following behind Commander T'Jehna's right shoulder. Like the rest of the squad, she was armed with traditional leather armor, equipped with kinetic buffers, and a basic pistol. Built on Thessia, their gear was not pretty or powerful. It was reliable.

The 34th had gone through a few scuffles already and ran into wild rebels stumbling through the jungle. T'Jehna kept track, said they had taken out 22 so far. Kaira had been careful dispatching rebels with biotics. T'Suni would lift an enemy, and someone else, usually T'Jehna, would follow through with a warp or throw to finish up. Kaira knew she was capable of much more powerful attacks, but they were dealing with quantity. Endurance was key. The 33rd commando unit had to hold out for five days against rebel assault before they were extracted.

"Hold up." T'Jehna ordered quietly, slowing down and crouching before pushing her way through a particularly dense section of undergrowth.

Kaira followed suit, squatting down and waiting as at the commander edged forward. There was a pause in the rustling, then T'Jehna signaled her to move up.

Kaira was cautious as she moved up and peered through the tangled undergrowth. She couldn't make out anything other than a monotone grey. Then she realized she was staring at the wall of a rebel base. Everything was so overgrown that she could almost reach out and touch the wall – but couldn't see it from a meter away.

A bomb went off in the distance, shaking the ground and most everyone's nerves. Some rebels could be heard yelling on a walkway above.

"Careful…" T'Jehna murmured, holding a hand in front of Kaira. The commander was listening. Kaira wasn't sure what for, but she crouched there in wait.

Then came the sound of another rebel base being hit with an orbital bombardment. Clicks ahead, on the other side of the current base.

"Move!" the 34th commander snapped, suddenly bolting forward through the undergrowth and planting her hands against the base of the smooth wall. She looked back to Kaira and nodded. They had trained for this. T'Suni took a running start at the commander, then slingshotted past, getting launched with a biotic leg up in the process.

Kaira slammed into the wall several meters off of the ground, barely catching the top edge with both hands. She hung there for a moment, caught her breath, then heaved herself up to get a better look. The base followed default schematics. There was a walkway around the edge, and then a wall directly behind. Oddly enough, cover for both attackers and defenders. To Kaira's relief, there were no rebels in sight. So she hoisted herself the rest of the way up, straightening her arms before flipping her legs over the railing. Keeping a vigilant eye all the while, she set a grappling line and tossed the cable down to the commander.

It seemed that most of the rebels had flocked towards the other side of the base, closer to the explosion. That was much more interesting than staring out into the jungle. Kaira glanced each way several times, making sure nobody snuck up on her. For the time being she was alone in a base with countless drug-crazed goons. The commando could feel her heart beating, nerves on edge, biotic fields ready to lash out. She waited.

Soon enough, T'Jehna was beside her, ready to take on any rebels. Unlike many commandos, T'Jehna often sought out fights. That made Kaira a tad uncomfortable, since most training only worked on defensive tactics and not leading offensives. That was usually left to… heavier units. Turian Centurions and the like. Kaira appreciated the aggressive approach, though. It was not a thoughtless rush in; T'Jehna remained cunning with each assault and did not give enemies a chance to retaliate. This was no different. They were powerful biotics and they were still undetected. They could do a staggering amount of damage in the blink of an eye.

"Keep an eye on your corners." T'Jehna warned. "Let's move up."

And so they did, waiting for more commandos to get on deck before edging along the upper wall of the compound. It wasn't very large, 60 meters across at the most. But there was no telling how many rebels were there in wait.

T'Suni and T'Jehna pressed their backs into the wall on both sides of a maintenance door, waiting and listening before making any move to break and enter. Kaira just watched the concentration etched in the commander's face.

They slammed the door open, ducking into the darkened confines. It took Kaira a long moment for her eyes to adjust, but. she could make out that they were standing on a metal walkway over a nearly empty warehouse. They were at least 10 meters up from the floor.

Well, nearly empty. It was dark, almost black, and only permeated by a cold blue light. Kaira couldn't see what the source was with the walkway right in the way. But she could see rebels all about on the floor. Kneeling. Were... were they praying?

Kaira glanced to the commander. The elder commando said nothing as they moved out on the walkway, noticeably unsure of what to think or do.

The duo made it to the center of the room undetected. Still on the walkway, they could make out the source of light. Some strange artifact, no larger than a Turian's head, hovered above the floor. A blue field surrounded the grey, metal device. Certainly a biotic field of some sort. And then the rebels were circled around, completely enthralled by the device… worshipping it.

The whole situation made Kaira uncomfortable. She knew how volatile the rebels usually were, but to see them perfect complacent like that… She couldn't figure out what they were gathered around. She didn't recognize the device, although it looked older, like something they would have found in a museum of Asari history.

Commander T'Jehna cautiously moved up on the walkway, glancing over as if to size up the rebels below. Kaira did similar, mimicking the commander's actions in hopes of learning her techniques and approaches. There were probably 50 rebels, all armored and armed up. Older weaponry, but still. Sheer quantity determined that they should not go head-to-head.

"Could this be why we were sent in?" Kaira whispered to the commander.

"Don't think so." T'Jehna shook her head, responding almost silently. "That _thing_ might be messing up transmissions. Command might have thought this was a stronghold."

And on that Command was willing to risk a commando squad, sending in troops rather than just lighting the place up with an orbital mortar attack like they had so many other bases.

Another commando murmured something about the targeting arrays being jammed, unable to lock onto this base specifically.

Kaira wondered how much of it was to do with the strange device below.

And then the blast hit. There had been little coordination between military units, and apparently no one had relayed the info that a commando unit had moved in.

The mortar seemed to hit the side of the base, sending a shockwave through, blasting rebels across the floor and shaking the framework of the base. Kaira grabbed onto the railing for stability, watching as the blue light from the artifact flickered as the blast continued to shake the walls. The walkway took to trembling and collapsed. T'Jehna, Kaira, and five other commandos fell in the midst of the rebels, kicking up some dust as the walkway hit the floor and crushed a few rebels who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kaira remembered hitting the decking, rolling over her back and landing on her hands and knees, crouching on the floor.

For several seconds things remained blurry. She made out the surprised yell of rebel troopers as they realized they had company; she made out the form of a rebel drawing a machete and rushing at her from several meters away before getting hit with a blast of biotics and sent flying back.

"Get up!" T'Jehna yelled, standing protectively over the younger adept, blasting back any rebels that tried to get close.

Kaira complied, shaking the webbings out of her mind. As she stood up, she found herself back-to back with the commander and several other commandos but surrounded by rebels. They were in a mess. "What's the plan, commander?"

"Fight. Don't let any of them get close."

There was an uncomfortable pause where no rebels rushed in, before one Turian yelled out: "They're here for the relic! Kill 'em! Kill kill kill!"

There was a panicked uproar amongst the rebels. And then they swarmed. There was no order to the attack, just a crazed flailing of swords and fists.

"T'Kena!" The commander yelled, "Get that artifact! If it's so damn important, then we take it with us!"

Kaira sent one rebel flying back with a throw, then locked down a small group with a singularity. Kaira had prepared for T'Jehna to detonate the singularity, so she didn't jump when the biotic field unleashed, wiping out a small circle of rebels.

It didn't seem to do much, though. They were still overrun, rebels leaping over each other just to get a swing at the commandos. It was all Kaira could do to keep the flurry of blades away, keep herself just out of harm's way. It wasn't easy, either. She could feel her nerves starting to lose their edge, the desire to panic noticeable with each throw. Some biotic moves began to decay. Kaira noticed, realizing that she would have to keep her head on straight – for the commander's sake. She did not want to let T'Jehna down. That, more than survival, motivated her to keep fighting, calm and collected.

T'Suni didn't see the rebel rushing from her left, armed with a smaller knife. She didn't hear the rebel, only commander T'Jehna's yelp. By the time Kaira spun around, the rebel had driven the blade under the commander's ribs and twisted the blade off. T'Jehna responded violently, smacking the rebel trooper back with a biotic punch and crushing him into the far wall with a well-aimed throw.

The commander paused for a moment, running her hand over the wound and looking at the purple blood trickling over her glove with dull surprise.

"Commander!" Kaira exclaimed, going for a medpack on her utility belt, already trying to figure out how to best deal with the injury.

T'Jehna just shook her head, wincing and falling onto Kaira's waiting shoulder. "I don't think… I don't think a medpack will help this time."

"Commander, it doesn't look that bad…" Kaira protested "I could extract the blade, and -"

"Wouldn't do any good." T'Jehna winced, biting her lip for a moment. "It's poisoned. I can feel it. Save… save the medpack. You need it more than I do."

"Are you certain? There must still be something I can -"

"No. I know what it is. K'fesa extract." T'Jehna shook her head violently. "Erratic heart rate. Loss of motor control."

It was true. Kaira could feel the commander putting more weight on her, slipping away at a terrifying rate. T'Suni just winced, lowering the commander as other commandos tried to cover them. Kaira was trying her damnedest to stay professional, but Goddess above… she was fighting back tears as she lowered T'Jehna to rest on the floor. This was the commander she had trained with, been stationed with for nearly five years, and depended on for guidance.

"T'Suni…" The commander whispered between tremors, eyes starting to roll back. The poison worked with alarming speed. "You… you need to get the rest of the squad out."

"But -" Kaira began to protest, realizing that she barely had experience on the battlefield, let alone as leader.

"Do it." T'Jehna ordered. "Remember everything you've learned. And… I'll see you on the other side."

There was barely a delay between the commander uttering her final words and her head rolling back. In those moments Kaira realized a newfound hate for K'fesa extract. Anything that could kill like that was despicable in her book. Kaira just stared for several seconds, stammering and barely aware of everything going on around her.

After a moment she stood up, blasted back a few rebels and gave the group of commandos room to operate. "Listen up!" She yelled, addressing the squad: "Stay close and we'll start working our way out of here."

"Screw off!" One Asari yelled in response, "I don't take orders from you!"

"T'Jehna tasked me as second in command. So yes, you do take orders from me now." Kaira responded, staring down her colleague for several seconds. "That is, if you want to make it out of here."

"Fine." The other Asari conceded. "I hope you have a plan."

Kaira nodded, turning back to hit a rebel with a throw. "T'Hes, see if you can contact the Turian air division. See if you can get a gunship in for extraction. The rest of you, stay back back-to-back. Cover T'Hes!"

There were some grumbles of agreement as the commandos fell into line, assuming a defensive stance as they backed towards the exit, pushing rebels away as best they could.

Kaira knew they were fighting a losing battle. Had the numbers been in their favor, the commandos would have been fine. They could easily take on ten rebels. But they were outnumbered by rebels that were even more psychotic than usual. Kaira didn't understand what was going on, and launching rebel after rebel back with biotic throws didn't help. She could hear ribs cracking from some of the impacts and her adversaries would just leap back onto their feet and rush back in for more. At least the 34th was nearing the exit – so they only had to fend off three sides. That was the only thing that kept the nine commandos from being overrun.

"T'Suni!" T'Hes yelled from behind, "The Turians called off the bombardment and are sending an extraction team in!"

"Good!" Kaira replied, locking down a rebel with a singularity. "Keep the rebels back until support arrives. Use the door as a bottleneck!"

Times like these made Kaira wish rifles were lighter. The unit had strayed away from incorporating anything more than pistols on the basis that they were heavy. But now that they were getting overrun, and they were stuck with only biotics, rifles seemed like a good idea.

One rebel got within striking range, throwing a jab at T'Suni. She barely ducked out of the way, then came back with a palm to the shoulder of her assailant, spinning the Batarian around and then grabbing his jaw with her opposite hand. In one smooth follow-through, she snapped the rebel's neck – letting the body drop to the floor before locking down another rebel with a singularity. There was no end to the stream of opponents.

"T'Suni!" One of the commandos yelled, "We've got a problem out here!"

Kaira detonated the singularity, then turned to look out. And so there was a problem: rebel reinforcements. They were just charging out of the jungle, leaping through the undergrowth, crashing into trees, getting tangled in undergrowth, tumbling, getting cut up and leaping right back up. At least 50 more. Far more then the remaining commandos could take on.

Get to high ground!" Kaira ordered, glancing back into the rebel base where T'Jehna lay under the bodies of fallen rebels. The late commander deserved better. Kaira knew that much. Yet to go back in for the body would be suicide. That had to get out alive. Kaira owed the elder commando that much.

The commandos had their back against the outside of the rebel base, fighting off two different groups of manic opponents. One by one the commandos scaled the wall, using a single grappling line to get to partial safety. It was a tedious process, especially when there were rebels throwing machetes and opening fire with cheap guns more liable to explode than to shoot. Kaira was the second to last on the ground.

"T'Suni! Go – I'll cover you!" The other Asari insisted.

Kaira hesitated, her own desire to get out alive offset by the desire to get the remaining squad to some safety. Finally she grabbed the cord and hoisted herself up, making it about halfway up the wall before looking back to see her companion finally overwhelmed, tackled by three rebels, going down in a screaming heap, blades and blood flying everywhere. The rebels were distracted, giving Kaira time to reach the top of the wall and unhook the cable. "Goddess dammit… where is our extraction?"

"Two clicks out and coming in hot!" T'Hes responded, looking up from her comm unit.

"Then we hold this roof." Kaira shook her head and looked around. There were bottlenecks, mostly in form of stairs. Without grappling cables, the rebels couldn't climb the walls. "I want half our forces on each flank. Take turns pushing rebels back."

There were only eight commandos in total. T'Suni winced as she watched the rebels rushing around in a frantic mess, pushing each other over in order to reach the stairs. "And whatever you do, don't let them break through our line!"

Kaira took her position on the right flank, hitting the first rebel back with a throw, decking out a few more in the process. Another commando took point, nailing rebel after rebel with lighter throws that only took out single targets. But by the very nature of throws, all they were doing was knocking their opponents down.

"Coordinate your attacks!" Kaira yelled, hitting a rebel Turian with pull and signaling another squadmate to follow up with a warp. The subsequent detonation took out a half dozen rebels; some of which didn't get up for more. "Pull or singularity, then warp! Work in pairs!"

The technique seemed to be working. The rebels were making only slow progress. The 34th was holding its ground, if barely. Kaira could their biotics weakening just after a short while, which made sense since none of them were trained as artillery.

The rebels were closing in, only two meters separating them from the 34th on the walkway on each side. Two meters was incredibly close for the commandos when their enemies brandished blades of all different sorts.

The rattle of minigun fire broke the trance of knocking rebels back with biotics. The mass of hostiles began to scatter or crumple over, as a gunship fired from a distance back and cut through the rebel ranks. Kaira glanced over her shoulder to see the Turian gunship dropping in, lowering to a height where the Asari could load up, while side-mounted machine-guns kept fire on the rebels.

Even accelerated shavings only seemed to slow the crazed rebels down.

"Go!" Kaira ordered, signaling the surviving commandos onto the gunship – while she held her ground, gritting her teeth and letting her biotics charge up. She sent a rebel to the right flying back. A singularity to her left, locking down a small group of rebels… followed by a warp. Detonation. Kaira began to fall into a pattern, letting her biotics flow as the rest of the 34th got to safety. But she also lost focus, not paying attention as she was the last one left, as rebels closed in on her alone.

"T'Suni! Let's go!" One of the commandos yelled, hanging out of the gunship and extending a hand.

Kaira snapped back to the moment, blasting a final few rebels back with a biotic forcewave before turning on her heels and making a leap for the gunship. She barely caught her colleague's hand, managed to pull herself most of the way into gunship before several more members of the 34th grabbed her and tugged her to safety.

As the gunship reeled back, rising to a safe elevation, the commando squad was silent. Catching their breath, realizing that they had lost two commandos in the fray. Kaira knew that one, if not both, of those deaths were avoidable if she had just known what she was doing.

"Comma-" T'Kena began, "Er, T'Suni. I was able to get that artifact out with us."

"Nice work, T'Kena. Can you tell what it is?" Kaira asked, rising from her knees and moving forward to take a better look at the seemingly dormant device.

"No ma'am. Never seen anything like it before."

Kaira hefted it up. There was nothing strange about it now. It looked just like an artifact, something to be found in a temple. While she wasn't a superstitious person, Kaira didn't like it. Something felt strange. She found her skin crawling under the leather armor as she handled the relic, and finally sat it down. Her mind drifted back to the fight they had left, to the people that had fallen. "Well… I hope it was worth the loss. We lost a good commander and commando today."

There were a few silent nods. Disenchanted grunts.

"T'Suni…" T'Hes began again, looking up from her communication unit. "It's command. They want to speak with you."

xxxx


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3 – Proving Grounds_

_Celldweller – The Sentinel _

xxxx

_Thessia, 1995  
517__th__ commando unit_

"Everyone ready?" Kaira asked, asking just two other commandos. Delina just shrugged. She was always ready to shoot people in the face.

The new recruit nodded certainly, responding: "Yes, commander."

"Alright. Then prepare to drop." Kaira cracked her neck, then checked her jump pack one more time before hitting the door of the shuttle.

Air rushed out quickly. They were at an altitude, hovering well above the Thessian cityscape. It was night, lights bright from the city below. One of the perks of being a Spectre, Kaira could operate in the middle altitudes on a moment's notice, blazing right by all of the red tape. For a moment, the commander just looked down. It was a hell of a drop. They were nearly 2000 meters above the city. And they were planning on dropping in with nothing more than the drop packs and guns on their backs.

Those odds were pretty good.

Of course, they were only called in when things got out of hand. This time, there had been a bomb threat. Well, that was playing it down – a group of secessionists had taken over government building with surprising effectiveness and planted enough explosives to turn key databanks into ash, along with the rest of the block that the government complex was situated on. In the process, they had locked the building down, trapping the nearly two thousand people that worked in the skyscraper. The Thessian police force had tried to contact the secessionists but their only response was that their goal was to bring Thessia back to the people who lived there. It was the most extreme of a string of events that had been happening on Thessia, as well as the most recent.

Since they had been nearby for a resupply, the 517th was called in to diffuse the threat; to take out the 'terrorists' and disarm what explosives they had moved in. Kaira had been watching the situation unfold for months with a dull curiosity. Even though she was a commando, ultimately responsible to the Asari Order, she didn't take much stock in the situation. There were police and spec op units on the Asari homeworld that could take care of anything major, while the Spectre stayed out in the Terminus – where there was no fuss when she blurred the lines of operation. The Council disliked when T'Suni operated within internal space, too. She had a nasty habit of digging into affairs and disrupting the flow of corrupt politics.

Kaira had begrudgingly offered to help with the situation. The AMF Akina was only on Thessia to resupply, not start a campaign that dabbled into underlying problems surrounding the government. But it was a good opportunity – or so Kaira told herself. The new recruit needed training, and working there on Thessia would be slightly more forgiving than on, say, Omega, where even inanimate objects came after you with a cold-blooded desire to kill.

_Ah, the new recruit_. For several seconds before she jumped out of the shuttle and into the Thessian sky, Kaira wondered if it was a good idea to train the young commando this way. The Spectre had concerns. The recruit was just over fifty years old, incredibly young for the profession. She had gone through all the basic commando training, but she was missing real-world experience. Kaira could see the potential – few commandos showed so much promise, so much desire to improve. And then there were the tech skills. Kaira hadn't seen anyone so keen on breaking into security systems of any shape or form. When given the go-ahead, Rana had cracked the storage encryptions on the Akina in a matter of minutes.

Commercial encryptions, supposedly uncrackable. That really didn't make the manufacturers happy.

Still, that only counted for so much if she couldn't keep her head on in battle. And she was going to be put under stress with this mission.

Combat would be less harsh and they had a slight margin for error, Kaira reminded herself.

Then again, they were skydiving out of a shuttle and attempting to disarm a hostage situation that involved heavy explosives.

There had been no lies, Kaira reminded herself; she had been perfectly frank with the young maiden, warning her of the short and long term threats of the profession well before she had set foot on the Akina.

Rana T'Lan had been completely certain. She had accepted the risks and the responsibilities.

Kaira just shook her head slightly as the air began to roar past her drop mask, her arms pressed to her sides in order to speed up the descent. She spoke over the radio: "Eyes on target building. Prepare to land on the triangular roof in sector eight."

"_Sure, got it."_ Delina responded, uncaring as ever.

"_Understood… commander!"_ Rana replied. There was uncertainty in the recruit's voice.

"Don't choke up now." Kaira warned. She had seen a few new recruits forget to activate their chutes. Panic would set in; they would forget what they needed to do. She didn't want to see that again. Not now, not ever.

They were dropping fast. Kaira could make out the rooftop of the LZ before she pulled the cord on her chute, suddenly yanked back as the parachute activated and slowed her fall. A hundred meters out. She could make out no hostiles on the roof, so she glanced back, turning sharply for a moment to look back and confirm that the other two commandos were following suit.

Delina had activated her chute, swinging wide to the right and preparing to land. She always charged into chute landings aggressively, bearing down hard with her shotgun activated and ready to draw on a moment's notice. Ever since Zavalon, five years previous. Kaira hated the technique of landing with guns blazing, but Delina made it work.

Meanwhile, Rana still hadn't activated her chute. She had been the last one out of the shuttle, so she was marginally clear for altitude… but it didn't look like it was going to end well.

"_T'LAN! _Activate your chute now!" Kaira yelled over the comms, unable to do anything but watch as the recruit plunged towards the ground.

"Primary chute is unresponsive!" Rana replied. Alarmed but focused. She hadn't frozen up.

"Activate secondary now!" Kaira ordered, resigned to watch as the young commando fumbled with the jump pack. Rana was getting down to the line. If she didn't get the secondary chute activated…well, Kaira hoped that she did. Otherwise they would be calling for cleanup as well as backup.

The second chute activated, whipping Rana forward as her fall was suddenly slowed down. Then she only had to contend with steering, slowing down enough for landing and making it to the rooftop LZ. She was able to slow down, but her steering was unstable at best – rocking from side to side, wobbling, trying to go straight rather than arc into the landing. And as Kaira watched the debacle, she began to wonder if Rana was going to have enough elevation to make the landing, since she was coming in alarmingly low, running the risk of crashing into the side of the building rather than landing on top.

Kaira landed, scrambling to stay on her feet, letting her chute drop and crumple on the roof as she turned to watch Rana come in to the landing. Delina landed with a hearty thud some meters away, dropping her pack and keeping her shotgun ready.

Rana tried not to panic as she watched the edge of the roof approach. She had only made one jump before, but she had a solid understanding of physics, and tried to chart her course in her mind. At the current rate of descent she was going to cap her knees on the edge of the roof. Wanting to avoid that, she waited. Kept some speed up until the last second. Just when it seemed that she was destined to smack into the side of the building, she pulled up on the chute, tucking her legs up and planting her feet directly on the edge – then trying to carry her momentum forward so that she didn't fall back and to her demise. For a moment she hung on the balance, arms flailing, knees bent to try and rock her weight forward.

Kaira rushed forward, realizing she wouldn't be able to do much from eight meters away.

Rana finally broke the precarious balance, falling forward and slumping onto her knees, barely on the roof. She paused for a moment, taking a breath and then realizing that her chute, still attached, was folding up against the side of the building and about to pull her back. The young commando scrambled with the buckles, unclipping the jump pack a moment before it tugged on her shoulders, freeing it just before it fell away without her attached. And then she just shook her head and stared at the ground for a moment.

"Rana!" Kaira asked worriedly, dropping to her knees and setting a hand on the maiden's shoulder. "Are you alright? That was way too close."

"I… I am so sorry, commander. I did not mean to jeopar -" She began to apologize profusely.

The commander just shook her head. "We'll have to go over proper drop technique later. I know they didn't cover everything you need to know in basic. For now… are you hurt?"

"No, commander. I am unharmed." Rana replied, standing up rather ashamedly and glancing about to make sure there was no immediate danger.

"Good. Then we'll continue on the current mission." Kaira nodded once, giving Rana an encouraging pat on the shoulder before turning to the arms specialist. "Delina! Status!"

"All clear up here." She shrugged, twirling the shogun for flair before holstering it. "Smooth moves, Rana."

Kaira shot Delina a warning glare. It was seldom a good time for her cynical comments, and this was definitely not one. Well, that and it bothered Kaira that the arms specialist had such a preconceived disdain for the recruit. Threatened, jealous, whatever the case was, Delina had made comment after comment. And time after time Kaira had told her to suck it up. "Alright. Let's move out."

And so they did, falling into a close formation. Kaira took point, then Delina followed right behind, covering the commander's left shoulder, then Rana fell in to the right – so that the three commandos formed a tight V as they moved across the roof and towards a maintenance hatch.

Like most roof hatches, it was unlocked. Few people expected drop-in visitors of any nature, invited or otherwise. So it was with the element of surprise that Kaira began to descend the stairs into temporary darkness.

Industrial metal stairs into a floor dedicated to facilities. Air vents, thermal units, water filtration. It was all unlit, dusty and seemingly abandoned. The workings of the building didn't matter – so long as they did what they were supposed to. They went unnoticed by the people that spend days, years of their life in the offices below.

Spectre T'Suni knew to keep her guard up, watching the darkness as she moved forward. In the half light, every movement produced different shadows, movements in the still air; details that would wear on most people's nerves. Kaira was well-versed in these places, working through the darkness quickly and silently – stepping over a coil of cables that lay haphazardly on the floor, coated with years of dust.

Rana, paying more attention to the flank of the group, eyes darting through the shadows, was walking almost sideways. Every movement drew her attention, tempted her to open fire. But she kept her wits about her, and her index finger off of the trigger of the pistol tight in her grasp. The recruit didn't notice the cables on the floor until her left foot brushed into one, knocking her balance off and sending her stumbling forward. She would have recovered, lest her right foot caught on a loose line before she went down. Rana rolled onto her shoulder, absorbing the impact best she could before recovering and leaping back to her feet with dust billowing about and the thud from the impact still resounding through the building. For a moment she stood there. Held her breath.

Waited.

There was nothing, no response, no other signs of life in the building; Kaira didn't say anything. She only watched, nodded once as Rana recovered, then signaled them to keep moving. The commander saw no need to make a fuss out of the incident; she could already tell that the recruit was able to recognize her mistakes. Pointing it out again would only compound the issue, leading to a break in confidence. And that, in Kaira's experience, lead to sloppy work.

Sloppy work got people killed.

The three commandos moved up in the darkness, finding the hatch in the next level down. According to local law enforcement, it consisted of offices. Management of city resources. The like. It was supposed to be a workplace. Efficient, beneficial to the public that effectively funded it.

The 517th found themselves in something entirely different. After opening and then dropping through a vent, Kaira looked around. They were not in an office but a _lounge_. A nicely furnished one, at that. The whole floor, in fact, seemed to be set up as a penthouse suite, looking more like the finest accommodations of a luxury hotel than an office building. And it was empty. Kaira had an uneasy feeling – not that they were about to ambushed, but that they had been mislead. She doubted it was a matter of faulty intel. This was something people would want to keep hidden, so sending in infamously nosy commandos must have been a last-ditch effort.

"Keep low." Kaira muttered, despite the fact that they were standing out in the open, with no cover except for nearby couches. They stopped and stood perfectly still. She paused, listening. "Rana, can you get access to security feeds?"

The engineer holstered her pistol and brought up her omni-tool and ran through several command sets. "The hard connections have been disabled, commander."

"So no." Kaira deduced, peering around a corner and into another empty lounge. Just around the corner was an emergency stairwell. It was better than the elevator. "Let's move down a level…"

And so there they were, the three commandos, moving down the metal stairs with quiet proficiency. Kaira was still in the lead, still listening, as they reached the door of the next level down. And the commander waited right next to the door, fringe close to the frame, listening for anything.

Voices. Kaira shot a glance to the other two commandos, nodding once and signaling them to arm up. Rana drew her pistol again; Delina switched to her assault rifle. Kaira tensed her fists and then relaxed, trying to gauge how many people were on the other side of the door – and who they were.

Asari, calm. They weren't hostages as far as Kaira could hear. She couldn't make out specific words, but the tonality suggested enough. Two or three people. The Spectre waited for just another moment before blasting the door out with biotics flaring, scanning for targets.

Three Asari mercs, assault rifles, unmarked medium grey armor. They looked surprised as hell to see the 517th; shocked to have three commandos busting out of a door and dropping right into an attack stance with an adept on point, a highly-armed commando kneeling to her left with a rifle raised, and a omni-tool bearing engineer to the right. The 517th held their fire for the time being.

There was a standoff. The mercs stood there, frozen with alarm. The center merc kept her rifle down, started backing away. "Commandos. I fucking knew they'd send commandos in. Shit, shit, shit. We don't stand a chance!"

"Be smart," Kaira suggested, glaring at the mercs and flaring her biotics for effect, "Weapons down now."

The three Asari mercenaries glanced amongst each other and then quickly complied, carefully setting their assault rifles on the floor.

The leftmost started to stammer: "Please! Just… just don't kill us! We're not terrorists! I-I swear to the goddess I haven't hurt anyone here!"

"Likely story." Delina scoffed, standing up, watching them skeptically.

"Which one of you is in charge?" Kaira pressed, motioning them back from their weapons and glancing around subtly, realizing they were in yet another lounge. "How many of you are there in total?"

"Look, I'm not in charge!" The middle Asari began, eyes darting about nervously. "None of us three are. We were hired. Along with 20 others."

"Who are you?" Kaira asked, almost snarling. She didn't have time for bullshit. "Who hired you?"

"I… I'm Yuni T'Maeveris. We were hired by extremists… said they needed to make a point. It was a group of them. They couldn't do this themselves, so they hired us."

"Confirmed, commander." Rana whispered almost right away. "T'Maeveris is a licensed privateer on Thessia."

Kaira still regarded the merc skeptically. "Where are the explosives?"

"_Explosives!?_" The merc to the right exclaimed, "There are _explosives_ here? – oh goddess. That's what was in those crates! I thought it was just a ploy… just an act!"

The three mercs looked amongst themselves, panicked.

"Where are these crates now?" Kaira drilled.

"54th floor." One merc replied. "The commander of our little group is there – she could probably tell you more!"

The 517th was currently on the 58th floor.

"Let me make something clear…" Kaira began, watching the trio closely. "The only reason you're not dead now is because you set down your weapons. I'll give you one chance to leave. Try anything and I won't think twice about ordering my squad on you. Are we clear?"

"Y-y-yes! Yes, captain!" the center merc stammered. Yuni, or whatever her name was. A blankface Asari with a decorative metal ring on her left lower fringeline. She seemed to know when she was outmatched and spoke for her squadmates.

Two of the mercs started to move away, but the third… the third glanced between the 517th and her colleagues. Well, more sort of glared. And then she snarled: "Fuck that!"

The merc hadn't even reached her rifle on the ground before Rana overloaded her shields, destroying her defenses and Delina followed through with a short burst of assault rifle fire. Accelerated shavings tore through unshielded flesh and bone and blood splattered on the leather sofa three meters back.

The merc landed on her rifle with a lifeless thud, sliding on her face and then remaining still. A few drops of blood trickled from the back of her fringe.

"You've made your point." T'Maeveris just nodded, holding her hands up, surrendering to Kaira's glare. "I… if it's any use… here's my radio."

Kaira just nodded, signaling Rana to take the small comms unit, waiting as the engineer acquired the device. The Spectre kept an eye on the two mercs. They seemed terrified and over their heads, but she was never sure. "Just… stay out of our way."

"O-of course!"

Once more the commander signaled the two other commandos to move out – back to the central stairwell to descend another few floors. Well, they backed away. Delina kept her rifle raised, to make a point.

The 517th had no trouble as they slipped back into the safety of the elevator. The three commandos said nothing as they descended. Delina kept an eye over her shoulder. Rana went through the motions, rather surprised that she had been so quick to overload that mercenary's shields; realized that her reaction had lead to someone getting killed. She fought the feeling back, fell back on what she knew._ Distance yourself from the death. Do not dwell upon it._

Kaira brought the merc's radio to her ear and listened in:

"_We're almost cleared out. The few stragglers are fine."_ An Asari voice, perhaps the commander of the mercenary group. "_T'Joris, make sure the detonators are primed. I wanna get the hell out of here before T-zero."_

A pause.

"_T'Maeveris, any signs of trouble yet?"_

Another pause.

"_T'Maeveris?"_

The 517th was gathering around the door to the 54th floor, just getting ready to breach. Kaira listened to the comms device for the mercenaries, weighing the odds of talking them down over the radio, or just busting in. Rana and Delina had proved that they could work together, even if begrudgingly. But what bothered Kaira was the mercs – there was no telling how they would react; no rationality could be applied. They could attack. Or they could surrender. Or they could run. She had dealt with all three in past – sometimes in one confrontation.

There probably wouldn't be that many mercs. And if they were to deal with explosives… they didn't need the added burden of getting stabbed in the back. They didn't need any extra blood on their hands, though.

"_Get ready to deal with intruders. Fire ready." _A merc ordered on the other side of the door.

That settled any doubt. They would have to go in loud. Kaira shook her head and then charged up her biotics, bracing beside the door. In a single motion she blasted the metal door out of its frame, launched it several meters away, then converged energy to form a singularity. It wasn't a strong one, but it was enough to throw anyone in the room off-balance and sweep weapons from nearby tables.

As soon as the commander could see their surroundings, it was evident they were outnumbered – at least 20 mercs stood around, some staggered by the singularity, others braced against walls or furniture.

"Take them out!" The merc commander yelled, stumbling toward the singularity – and then getting pulled in and locked down.

Upon seeing they were going up against a larger group, Kaira let her biotics power up to full . Four or five mercs were pulled off the ground by the singularity, while the rest began to scramble about and arm up. Another small group staggered in shock Rana overloaded their shields. On the other side, Delina threw two shock grenades into the middle of a group of mercs. Sparks leapt from grey armors as shields overloaded and gave out. Delina was fast, moving target-to-target, delivering short, well-placed rifle bursts into each merc – sending them down right away. Rana fumbled with her pistol, getting two shots off before a merc closed into boxing range – and actually took a swung at her head. Rana ducked instinctively, then responded with a fast jab, her fingers straight as they drove into the neck of the privateer Asari. The merc was certainly stunned, if not out of the count, as she staggered back while gripping her neck, chocking and gasping. Rana followed up with a quickly formed, but weak, throw that send the merc crashing back into four more.

At the same time, Kaira detonated the singularity…blasting five mercs in various directions. One hit and flipped over a sofa, another hit the window and sent a web of cracks through it, while yet another hit the floor and slid several meters away.

The mercs were in over their heads. Several survivors realized this, bolting for safety, possibly hoping to escape around the building. Most of them fled, actually. Only one was left. The commander would not budge, not even outnumbered three to one by commandos. She stood there, shoulders heaving while she wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. "Whoever the hell you are… I've got a job to do. I don't leave my work unfinished."

"Just what are you trying to accomplish? Is Thessian independence that important?" Kaira asked, biotics still flaring. They might have won the fight…but there was still more to go wrong. She signaled the other two commandos to stand ready.

"I could give a varren's ass if Thessia became a Council enclave. I don't know what stories they've made up, I'm here for one thing and one thing only: demolition. That's what I was hired to do, and that -" she paused long enough to draw a detonator, "is what I'm gonna do."

"Press that and this will be your last job." Kaira warned.

"Why? If I get out of here now, I'll be stuck to their story. I'll face a life in prison. Doesn't sound like much of a life to me."

"Be reasonable here." Kaira suggested. "Stand down and I'll make sure your name is cleared."

"Yeah, like you can do that." The merc scoffed.

"I'm a Spectre. So yes, I _can_ do that." Kaira replied calmly. "You get out of here alive, free and clear. Asari government can carry on."

The merc commander stared at the three commandos for several long seconds, weighing her odds. Several, long, tense seconds.

"Fine. I was gonna die here anyway. So if you hold up your end of the deal…" The privateer finally softened, tossed the detonator to Kaira, and signaled towards the entrance to another room on the same floor. Probably closer to the elevator. "We've got the explosives set up over there."

Kaira caught the device, biotics dissipating as she began to follow the privateer, signaling Rana and Delina to keep their cool but keep their guard up. The rest of the mercs were out of sight, but that didn't mean they were out of trouble.

The three commandos followed closely behind the merc commander. Delina and Rana remained silent, but Kaira kept on the hired demolitions agent. She wanted answers. "This isn't a small operation. Who hired you to do this?"

The grey-armored Asari was silent for a second. "It was only through a liaison. I never actually talked to the client. But they assured me that everything would be set up. That I would just have to do the job, that there wouldn't be anyone in the way."

"What do you mean there wouldn't be anyone in the way?" Kaira pointed out with some guile. "This building is full of people, especially during working hours."

"And the newscasts said that there were hostages trapped!" Rana blurted out.

"Look around." The merc flung up her hands. "This place is empty. I was just doing my job to take it down. They said they would cover the press, make sure nobody actually got killed here."

Kaira had gone off the assumption that the mercs had just been holding the hostages somewhere else. She stopped in her tracks. "Hold up a damned minute. You're saying all this is just a _sham_?" The Spectre's mind was racing. There would be fallout, repercussions throughout Asari Government. But more importantly, the hostage situation wasn't an attack but a way to cover things up. The privateer nodded once, allowing Kaira to go right into another question: "There was no one here when you arrived?"

The Asari merc just shook her head, watching the Spectre pensively. "No. There wasn't. Place was empty."

Kaira's eyes narrowed. Not out of suspicion for the mercenary, but for the whole situation. It felt like a massive trap that both the commandos and privateers were being led into by the administration. She looked over her shoulder to the engineer, then to the arms specialist. Both were on guard, suspecting the mercs above anything else. Delina was even walking backwards to make sure that nobody snuck up on them. Kaira looked back to the privateer and stated: "We need to get to those explosives now."

The merc nodded. Her face remained emotionless, but there was fear noticeable in her eyes. Fear that this was going to be her last job, that she might have betrayed by the very people who employed her.

The building seemed much larger as the squad walked around the outside perimeter. But it was only a matter of seconds before they rounded the corner and could see the crates – five grey metal crates. A meter cube each. Explosives. Self-contained.

"Here we go." The merc pointed them out needlessly. "You've got the detonator. They're all armed, but unless you hit the button we should be safe. There were no timers."

Rana found her curiosity piqued by the rigging of high explosives and basic circuitry. While Kaira continued to interrogate the privateer commander, the young engineer knelt down in front of the middle crate and unclipped the small maintenance panel to expose a complex circuit board.

"I wouldn't do that." Delina warned, arms folded and watching the younger Asari admonishingly.

Rana paused for a moment, glanced over her shoulder to see if Kaira was paying attention. She wasn't. The engineer looked back to Delina, asking curiously: "Do what?"

"What you just did." Delina replied signaling to the explosive controls with a subtle nod a point of her finger.

But the engineer just shook her head. "Commander T'Suni has the detonator. This circuitry is probably quite simple, meant to serve a specific purpose. It is highly unlikely that they took any precautions to block close-range interfacing."

Delina shrugged hesitantly. "If you say so… But I'll be pissed if you blow us all up."

"That's an irrational fear." Rana stated bluntly as she pulled up her omni-tool and began to work. "I do not mean to offend you, Delina, but… this application is seldom complex. I should be able to -"

The engineer fell silent immediately, freezing as she stared at her omni-tool screen and whispered: "Goddess… we are not dealing with mercenary work here…"

"Well? What the hell are you on about?" Delina asked, taking a few steps forward, leaning forward to get a better look. She didn't understand the lines of chaotic text on the omni-tool, but pretended to have some idea.

Rana started to try and explain. "I- well, I've never seen this done before. The detonator, all the scripts that would control that… they're just a shell. I-I believe they're covering up an encrypted subunit."

"So what about the detonator?" Delina asked.

"It is disconnected from any firing mechanisms." Rana replied hesitantly, scanning the code for information otherwise.

"So it's all a sham." Delina speculated, then glanced over to the Spectre and yelled: "Hey Kaira! We've got a problem here!"

The commander had almost gotten a name from the privateer when Delina called. Yes, she was slightly annoyed, giving the merc an apologetic look before pacing over to see what the two commandos were fussing about. "What is it?"

Delina signaled Rana to explain; the engineer began. "It seems that the detonator we acquired from the privateer is only a ploy. It does not actually control the firing mechanisms for these explosives."

Kaira was silent for a moment. "Then what controls them? And who?"

"I… I do not know." Rana began. "I could try to break the encryption, but…"

"But what?" Kaira pressed.

"Well, before I fully decrypt it I do not know the software contents. There may be safeguards that trigger a detonation should someone try to hack it directly."

"Fine. Any suggestions?"

"Just one…" Rana began, glancing back to the circuit board for a moment. "I would be able to trace the detonator signal to an encrypted port and feed a modified signal from there."

"So basically we press that button and hope we don't blow up?" Delina grumbled loudly.

"What's going on now?" The privateer suddenly perked up, eyes widening as she suddenly realized she was involved in the mess.

Kaira was pensive. "It seems that the detonator is a fake. My engineer is trying to figure out how we can trace the actual trigger."

"Goddess… " the merc muttered. "I _knew_ I shouldn't trust a politician…"

Kaira raised her brow. "We'll talk about that in a minute." Then, looking back to Rana and raising the detonator, she said: "You're sure that this won't do anything?"

"Not entirely. But it is unlikely." The engineer replied, scrambling through commands on her omni-tool. "I have nearly calibrated the tracer."

And so the commander of the 517th stood there uncomfortably, holding a potentially devastating detonator in her right hand. She prayed to Athame that Rana knew what she was doing.

Then she depressed the button.

All four Asari cringed, waiting. Rana watched the screen of her omni-tool as milliseconds lead to seconds and they had not been disintegrated. That was a promising sign. Several seconds of tense silence passed.

"I have it!" The engineer exclaimed. "I have located a secure port and I can start decryption now."

"Well, seeing as we're not dead…" Kaira began, shaking her head with dry amusement before looking to the merc. "Let's talk."

They didn't get to start before Kaira's omni-tool began to ping – with an urgent call. The commander hesitated before lifting her wrist and activating the haptic interface. A small panel indicated an established, secure connection.

Delina noted that panel with some suspicion. She knew the squad omni-tools well enough – the only connections marked 'secure' had previous contact. Someone they had worked with. It was all too related to be coincidence. Delina didn't believe in coincidences.

Kaira answered the call – slightly disappointed as there was no holo of the other speaker. The commander answered simply: "Yes?"

"_Commander T'Suni…"_ The voice began. Kaira tried to place it – was it the law enforcement chief? _"This is unfortunate… Seeing as the detonator was activated, I can only imagine one of two things: you panicked the mercenaries and they triggered it, or you have nosed around enough to realize it's a sham – the whole thing."_

"What in the goddess's name is going on, chief?" Kaira demanded rather angrily.

"_You see, sometime change takes too long. In order to keep our government strong, we agreed that reform was needed. But in the past… well, people have lived beyond their means. Lived on the backs of others. If the public found out, it would have been disastrous. But a staged coupe would allow those people to disappear quietly. Everyone wins."_ The chief paused. _"Well, except for you. See, this needed legitimacy. That's why you were sent in. Not to actually fight anyone. We just needed your presence."_

"And why should I help you now?" Kaira hissed. "You've violated more codes and laws then I could count in pyjac scales. And now… all we need to do is spread the news and you're done."

"_Ah, but you see I control the explosives. If you don't cooperate, I set them off. If you try to hack into them, they will detonate. Do you really want to be responsible for wiping out several blocks?"_

Kaira growled. She hated this sort of situation, and especially the people that would sell you to make it a meter ahead. Mercs weren't the only ones to be distrusted – and they weren't always the most dangerous. Kaira glanced at the engineer, hoping she had cracked through the decryption already. But Rana shook her head, gesturing that she hadn't any luck yet. For the time being, the Spectre's only option was to cooperate. "Fine. What do you want?"

"_I want a full audio report, detailing the hostage situation. The whole thing. The building is full of hostages, there are extremists that have locked the place down. It needs to match the earlier press releases. It also needs to be noted that your cover was blown and the separatists know you're there."_

Kaira didn't like the sounds of the request. It sounded like closure. But she didn't have any cards to play. "Then what?"

"_You have five minutes. I advise you to make the audio report as convincing as possible."_

The link cut. Everyone was silent for several seconds.

Delina was the first to react. Rather, she snapped, cursed under her breath, spinning around and driving a roundhouse kick into a decorative vase, sending the porcelain flying across the hallway, smashing into in inside wall and shattering upon impact. "Dammit! That bitch set us up!"

Kaira remained much more composed. She simply stood there, a hand on her chin, arms folded. She asked: "Rana, how much time do you need to break through that?"

"I…I do not know. It is a Citadel-grade encryption. If I am actually able to break through, it will take some time." The engineer replied, working as fast as she could.

"Alright. We're all counting on you, Rana. Do your best."

The engineer just nodded slightly, not looking up from her work.

"Yeah. No pressure or anything." Delina grumbled, still sulking about and looking for more things to kick.

Meanwhile, the mercenary commander was just sort of standing there, a little bit slack-jawed and knowingly in over her head. A seasoned privateer, yes. Someone used to dealing with high-government level espionage? That was something else entirely. Still, she managed: "Spectre… aren't you going to start a report?"

Kaira shook her head. "No. Why would they need that now? Only if they're planning on taking the building out regardless. As long as we have something they need, we can bargain. Buy Rana enough time to crack their system. Figure out what's going on."

They remained silent. Seconds became minutes of uneasy waiting and milling about. Five minutes passed by without event. Kaira looked at Rana, pausing before asking quietly: "Rana. Are you almost done?"

"I need more time…" the engineer bemoaned, not looking away from her omni-tool. "I will be able to decrypt this transceiver, however I will need more leeway."

The commander just winced. Especially as her omni-tool began to ping again. Time was almost up. She could only stall for so long against someone with heavy explosives. She hesitated before answering: "T'Suni here."

"_Good. I hope your report is ready to send."_ The chief sounded like she had a stick up her ass.

"It is, but I wasn't sure about a few things." Kaira pressed, stalling best she could. "See… We were never supposed to go up against an army."

There was some annoyance. _"Just add that there were more separatists than expected. Now, is that report ready to send over?"_

"Well, yes… but…" Kaira continued, watching Rana work – and the engineer had paused. That could be good or bad. _More time,_ the commander thought. "Why do you need this report?"

"_If you don't send it now, the whole building is going down, T'Suni."_ The Asari voice warned.

"Really?" The Spectre continued. "Seems to me that you just need closure. With evidence, you don't need me. But right now…"

"_We can make do without that report."_ The chief growled. _"You're done meddling in our internal affairs… and you know too much as it is. Your choice: cooperate or die taking out an entire block."_

Kaira paused, looking to Rana hopefully.

The engineer nodded, mouthing silently: "Ready."

"The way I see it…" Kaira began, beginning to slowly pace, "All of this is going to backfire. You can't cover up corruption with more corruption. I've seen what's been allowed to happen here… and I won't let it rest. So I'm warning you: back down now. Make the fall easier."

"_Like hell. You're the one who's standing on a bomb. I can press a button and you're gone."_

"If you really think that's the case… do it." Kaira taunted.

"Be reasonable, T'Suni. You can at least die with some dignity."

"And in the meantime, I can upload this entire data cache onto the extranet. Every last expenditure, every last bribe and threat."

The line fell silent. A chord had been struck.

"_I warned you, T'Suni… I warned you."_ The chief was growling. There was a pause, followed by a pronounced click.

The privateer commander, having heard all of the conversation, cringed, waiting for the blast. But there was nothing. Instead, after a moment, Rana yelled excitedly: "The signal has been intercepted! Tracing it back to its origin now!"

"_The hell is going on?"_ The chief shouted. _"We've got a security breach on all systems!"_

The 517th commander cut the comms link, looking to Rana. "Damn nice work, Rana. While you're at it, wreck some havoc and upload everything. I'm sure the high courts will find it interesting."

"Will do, commander." Rana nodded, then smiled for a moment: "And thank you."

"Well then." Delina just shook her head, grinning all the while. "That was a beatdown."

Kaira just laughed quietly. "Never mess with a Spectre." Then she paused, and added:

"Or her crew."

xxxx


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the support so far! To be honest, CE:Dawning was more of an experiment than anything else and as a result I'm figuring out many things as I go along. It really does help to hear what works and what doesn't - feedback is always appreciated!**

_Chapter 4 – Troublemakers_

_Chris Lake & Lazy Rich – Stand Alone_

xxxx

_Omega, 1968_

"Oh come on!" Evia yelled, laughing as she vaulted over a metal crate. She, like the other three Asari in the group, was in a great mood. Two successful raids in one day, plus a new 'employment opportunity.' Evia was carefree as they made their way through the deserted shipping yard, brushing her leg against the crate as she vaulted over, landing lightly on her feet and turning back to glance – and wink – at Delina before addressing the other two Asari. "It'll be easy. The ship's fresh from a Citadel colony. We'll be able to scare them shitless."

By employment opportunity, she meant a new unsuspecting victim to rob, bribe, or just generally terrorize. Delina and Evia generally didn't actually kill their targets, just knocked some street sense into them and sent them on their way with enough fuel to reach a decent colony.

Generally.

Then again, it was Omega. The gang of four Asari were much more merciful than most. There were no rules on the rock pile of a space station, but Delina and Evia followed a few personal codes. Guns only when necessary. No landmines. No damping mines. No stabbing each other in the back – although the two were far past worrying about that. Nearly 15 years as…whatever the hell the term was. If they were bondmates, then it was only unofficially. And that was part of the fun.

For being renegades, they were surprisingly well dressed – matching commando leathers that they had "acquired." Evia was the younger of the duo, slightly shorter than Delina. Her skin slightly darker, with sharp, dark brown markings around her eyes and cheeks. She was not a blankface like her fair-skinned counterpart.

The other two Asari they were running with were slightly questionable. Tierna was young and carried a rocket launcher. Had grown up Omega. She didn't talk a whole lot. The other, Kerla was like Delina. A colony kid. She'd gone to Omega for work, got sold out and somehow ended up in a gang. Both wore patchy grey light armor, bits and pieces replaced as they were damaged.

The four of them had only been running for a few months. Evia didn't trust any of them, and Delina figured the other two should pull their weight before they went rogue. Most people would have aversions to working with someone who was almost guaranteed to stab them in the back given the first opportunity, but this was the Terminus. Temporary allies were hard to come by. And on Omega, nobody gave a single fuck. Backstabbings were just part of business. Although some people enjoyed business far more than others.

"Sure, let's just wander into a shipping yard that's controlled by mercs." Kerla grumbled loudly, her voice cracking a few times as it did whenever she didn't like a situation. "Last time we tried that, we nearly got killed."

"A vorcha put scratch-marks in your armor. That's hardly close to dying." Delina rolled her eyes, jumping up onto a parked shuttle and walking over the roof, jamming her heel into the roof and sending cracks through the tempered glass. "It'll be fun. We could find some new weapons, maybe some zerowave… and credits. Of fucking course we'll find credits."

"I'm in." Tierna added simply, not looking from the path ahead.

"Then let's go!" Delina threw up her hands energetically and hopped off of the shuttle. In her mind, they – referring to Delina and Evia –were nearly invincible. Two incredibly powerful Asari biotics fueled by youthful energy, adrenaline, anger, and occasional zerowave were let loose on Omega to do as they pleased and survive only by rising above the fray. They would fight their way to the top of their pile. Hell, Charrac had already approached them with business offers. But Delina loved working in the shadows. She wasn't tied to anyone. Except for Evia, she had no allegiances. She was free to do as she pleased, without being accountable or responsible. If shit went wrong, she would proceed to move somewhere else and start again. Omega was a big place, but the whole damn Terminus was an option to her. For the time being, there weren't enough bounties on their heads to warrant moving on.

And so the four Asari continued along the docks.

xxxx

Sometime later, the gang of four Asari arrived at a lower dock – having run into a few troublemakers and even one wannabe-Turian-gang along their way. It was all part of the game. Roughing a few people up, stealing their gear, moving on. Neither Delina nor Evia wanted guns for themselves, but they knew they could turn them for a profit. Not much, but enough to cover food and anything else that might come up.

There was a strange quiet about the open docks as the four made their way along, looking at the empty bays and seemingly abandoned ships. The lower levels. Few people stayed docked for very long and misfortune was liable to find those who did. Delina was right at home. This where she lived – the dark, quiet areas of Omega. The silence didn't worry her. Evia too was comfortable. So long as they weren't getting attacked, everything was cool.

"There." Kerla pointed to a ship that looked freshly docked. Unlike the other ships in the sector, it wasn't rusted and dilapidated. "That looks like our hit."

Delina cracked her knuckles and looked the ship over. It was a small freighter. Civilian ware. Delina knew enough about spaceships to recognize that it was Batarian construction, maybe ten years old, well kept and clean. Like in most docks, a gangway extended to the bridge, and as the four Asari approached, Delina could see that the hatch was locked down. But the cargo bay must have been open as the lower section of the dock was filled with haphazardly stacked crates. Delina beamed and signaled her three counterparts to move in.

Evia was the first to drop down to the lower deck, glancing about the place to look for anything interesting or dangerous right off. Delina followed, quickly catching up and moving up side-by-side. The other two Asari approached the lowered cargo bay ramp. Delina ducked under one of the docking clamps, then swung up onto the ramp, looking around for fight. Nothing.

There was some disappointment. Delina had been hoping for a tussle, a reason to set her biotics off and tear shit up. Evia was slightly less hopeful, but she still wanted a challenge. The younger of the pair just shook her head as she strode up the ramp: "Nothing. What a fucking bust."

"Most these crates are empty anyhow." Kerla called up, after kicking open two crates at the base of the ramp.

Delina continued up the ramp, pausing as she reached the top and surveyed the hold. More crates. Not big ones, just like the ones that weapons were shipped in. Hip-high, metal. There was a dull hum from the ship's power generators, but she could easily hear above that. Nothing. Her nerves were prickling. She didn't know why.

Hell, she didn't even flinch as a single pistol round went wild past her head. Delina dropped to one knee and threw out her right hand, sending a shockwave in the direction of the shot. Crates went flying up and to the side, creating a god-awful racket and sending a Turian skidding away on his back, pistol landing several paces away. He was scrambling to get back on his feet as Delina approached. She knocked him back onto his ass with a weak throw, signaling for Evia to cover her back.

"Alright, alright! I surrender! Spirits!" The Turian stammered, shielding his face with his talons.

It was only then that Delina got a good look at him – a scrawny bird with a short fringe. Just a kid. Her biotics were still flowing about, pulsing slightly, but she wasn't about to kill him in cold blood. Seeing how he acted, the Turian hadn't made it through military training. Or didn't do very well.

Delina growled: "How many more of you are there?"

"Three! There's three of us!" He managed, obviously terrified. "Please don't kill us!"

"Kill you?" Delina scoffed, finally letting her biotics dissipate. A maniacal smile formed on her face. "There are worse things than death. I doubt you want to find out what they are."

"N-no! Of course not!"

Delina chuckled, amused by her ability to make the Turian backpedal. But there were still logistical issues: "Where are the other two? I better not get fucking shot in the back."

"They're… they're on the other side of the hold." The Turian managed, only to add: "Listen, please… whatever you do, don't kill us. We're not worth it!"

Evia proceeded to draw the other two Turians out of cover. And by 'draw,' she meant hit them with biotic pulls and proceed to let them float across the hold upside-down and flailing about until the biotics wore off and they fell to the floor. Like the first, they were both juveniles.

Delina began pacing, slowly and deliberately, watching the Turian out of the corner of her eye. Normally she would have gone much harder on her targets – but in this case she could tell it was only going to scare them silent. They were nearly silent as it was. "Then you'd better start giving me reasons why I shouldn't fillet you alive."

"These crates aren't worth anything – we were just en route to Illium, shuttling arms to some colonies. Bring guns there, bring empty crates back." The first managed before choking up. The Turian colonies warned about the Asari on Omega – said they could kill with their mind. Rightfully so, he was scared witless.

Another picked up where he left off, stammering: "W-we got hit by pirates on the way back. Our distributor network took a hit. Believe me, we didn't want to stop here… but we weren't about to make it back."

"That's all well and great…" Delina rolled her eyes. "But you haven't given me any reason to just put you out before somebody else comes along with the same idea."

Evia came up behind Delina, stood next to her and suggested: "Credits, guns, stims. I'm sure you have something more valuable than your lives to give up."

"There are guns! We've still got two crates of guns!" The first Turian finally admitted.

Delina raised her brow. That was promising. Maybe their raid wasn't going to be a bust. "Continue."

"They're civilian grade pistols. Fifty of them! They're yours if you want!"

Disappointment filled the four Asari; Delina just groaned and looked around for a minute before turning back to the first Turian and deliberately cracked her knuckles. Civ-grade pistols weren't worth a single credit on Omega. "That's not gonna work."

"A-Alright! We were also bringing two liters of zerowave back to Illium! Take it and leave us alone!"

Delina chuckled, backing off by a meter. "That's a good start."

Evia didn't say anything from across the hold, but watched Delina all the same. Part of her was worried. For as hardened and tough as Delina acted most of the time, she was still Asari. Still flesh and bone, even if combined with above-average biotics. No, Evia was worried because of the past two years when Delina had begun to take zerowave more and more often. The biotic-boosting drug was starting to motivate her, but Delina didn't even realize it yet; she didn't notice as her biotics spiked and her disposition cracked.

Evia held her tongue.

"Umm… Delina?" Tierna began, looking down the cargo bay ramp uneasily, crouched by one of the hydraulic articulators. "We've about got company!"

Delina spun on her heels, fell silent and listened. Not one of them made a sound. And sure enough, there was the sound of crates being scattered below, just out of their sight. She stayed perfectly still – any company in this district was sure to be hostile. And strong.

"They're in the hold!" An angry-sounding Krogan bellowed from somewhere below the ship. "Get em boys!"

Delina had an inkling of who the group was well before three brown-armored Krogan swung into view. Slashers, a band of toughened Krogan and Vorcha that roamed the lower docks with a reputation of stabbing and torturing anyone who was brazen enough to cross into their territory. True to their infamy, all three carried massive claymores. Not the shotgun models, but actual swords. Real hefty things, too. Not something you wanted to get in CQC with.

"What d'we have here?" the leader chortled. Half of his face seemed to be… missing. Eye and all. "Three birds and some squishies?"

There was some rabble from elsewhere as Vorcha began rushing in. Delina knew she should have been terrified, but all she felt was excitement. She had come there looking for a fight and finding a ship full of passive Turians had only fueled her desire to duke it out.

"We got some new torture toys, boys!" The lead Krogan bellowed, lifting his claymore into the air as if they had already won. If only he knew the powder keg he was kicking sparks into.

Delina exchanged a quick glance with Evia. They knew what to do, and they did it fast. Evia struck first, hitting the lead Krogan with a pull then Delina followed immediately with a throw. There was a detonation powerful enough to send the outside two Krogan staggering while the leader went flying back down the ramp, crashing into a heap of crates and sliding several meters away. Delina looked back at the Turians "Kids, you'd better get those guns or start getting this ship ready to fly." She then snapped back to her group: "Kerla, lock them down! Tierna, keep blowing shit up! Let's go!"

But Kerla did not lock them down. She ran. There was a hole between the Krogan, and she shot for it. It seemed like she was going to make it through, too. Until one clotheslined her with and armored fist, sending her through two full rotations before she slammed into the ramp on her back. She was already over on her knees and scrambling up when one of the Slashers drove a claymore through her lower back and pinned her to the deck. Kerla let out a bloodcurdling scream, struggling to free herself but only aggravating the situation. The Slashers paid her no mind once she was out of the fight. The Krogan left the sword impaled and walked away.

Tierna held her ground as she drew the rocket launcher from her back, sending a psycho vorcha flying away with a quick biotic throw as the launcher armed.

Delina and Evia moved from the top of the ramp to the base, just underneath the ship. Evia locked down one of the Krogan with a singularity while Delina kept batting psycho vorcha back. Between hits, she glanced over her shoulder, watching the Turians fumble with pistols that they clearly didn't know how to use: "On second thought, get this ship ready to fly. This ain't the place for soft fringes!"

One of the Turians just seemed confused. "But… you were threatening to murder us a moment ago!"

"Yea, that was before these assholes showed up. It'll piss them off more to have you escape." Delina snapped. "Now fucking get to work!"

A vorcha got within striking range of Tierna, but the colony Asari swung first – cracking her assailant in the face with the butt of her launcher. He didn't go down, but it sure bought her time to send him flipping away with a throw.

The three Asari were holding their ground. Evia and Delina were a devastating team, and combined with Tierna, they could dish out the damage. But they were dealing with the dregs – the hardened survivors of Omega's roughest district. Krogan and Vorcha both had rapid regenerative abilities, and warp detonations only stopped those effects for a matter of seconds. Each enemy would just get back up – except for few vorcha who went clear through the pressurization field of the dock. They got a good dose of space.

"Hey!" One of the Turians yelled at Delina, "This might help!"

She turned just in time to catch a small, clear syringe filled with a grey metallic fluid. It was only ten milliliters, but she recognized the substance right away as she held it in her leather-covered hand.

Zerowave.

Synthetic blood cells laced with charged molecules, pumped full of stimulants adrenaline capsules. Most people would have thought twice before jamming the needle right into their neck, but Delina was not one of those people. She was out of the fight for just a moment as she injected the whole syringe – rated at two full hits. There was a several second delay before it started to kick in. And when it did… her biotics blazed far brighter than before. Without any warning, Delina unleashed a massive blast into the midst of their attackers, sending crates screeching away and enemies crashing about.

Then Delina moved down the ramp, ready to take on the whole damn lot of Slashers. She got to Kerla, pausing long enough to rip the claymore up from the ramp, charge it with her biotics, and brace herself to take on the horde.

Evia just watched for a moment, realizing that Delina was out of her mind. So it went with zerowave; about a minute of crazed energy followed by several hours of boosted biotic ability. Evia knew she could only watch and make sure nobody flanked her partner.

Delina was tearing shit up, too – with the enhanced sword, she was able to outmaneuver the Krogan leader and land blow after blow. Sure enough, a couple vorcha tried to hit the biotic in the back while she swung away at a Krogan. They didn't even get close before Evia lifted them and sent them flying into space. That bought Delina just enough time to drive the claymore through the edge of the Krogan's skullplate, slicing through the softer flesh and piercing through his brain. When she was done, she let go of the sword and kicked the Krogan away – letting the corpse fall to the deck amidst scattered crates.

But there were only more Slashers.

For the countless Vorcha and two Krogan they had taken out, two or three times as many more rushed in to fill their place. And now only three of them were in the fight. Kerla was laying on the cargo deck, gurgling as loud as her condition would allow – mostly she lay in a pool of blood that drew purple lines down the ramp. She had fought against the sword far too much, slicing herself up beyond repair.

Delina sent another of the Krogan commanders skidding back and falling into a maintenance path below, but she was starting to come off the initial high from the zerowave. She backed up, back-to-back with Evia, and the two surveyed the impending onslaught. Tierna was also there, covering the third front with explosives and biotics.

"You ready?" Delina asked, flexing her fingers.

"You know it." Evia replied, adding: "I haven't gone soft like you."

Delina just smirked as she charged her biotics up. A vorcha was the first victim, lifted up and then slammed back into the deck with enough force to knock everyone within a several meter radius down. Vorcha regeneration was going to have a hard time fixing shattered legs.

Delina looked over her shoulder. "You're one to talk."

The challenge was on. Evia said nothing as she converged a singularity in the midst of Vorcha on the opposite side of the dock, drawing them into the gravitational disturbance before letting the energy blast out – tearing apart its contents and sending out a small shockwave. Evia snorted: "Sweetie… that's how it's done."

Delina shook her head. She still thought it was funny when Evia tried to be condescending. It didn't work. Not from the scrawny, tough-looking punk. She just wasn't classy enough.

Unfortunately, Slashers didn't give much care as to looks. Victims were all the same to them. This group just happened to be challenging. Extremely challenging. For fighters used to going in with claws or swords, they were at a disadvantage, being warded off by a rapid stream of throws, pulls, and singularities.

Still, Delina noted that they were barely holding ground. The Turians needed to get the ship up and going fast. She was only willing to buy them so much time before bailing, leaving the Slashers behind and escaping on fleet feet. Delina hoped that Turians got their shit together _before_ the three Asari had to split. Otherwise, well, it wouldn't be pretty for the birds.

Delina didn't mind tussling with some thugs, but she wasn't going to actually risk her life for anyone except Evia. The juiced biotic thought about their exit strategy as she threw away another big Krogan back through the pack. She knocked down ten vorcha, a new record.

"Network repaired!" One of the Turians yelled, peeking out from under the ship and then ducking to avoid a thrown axe.

"Then what the hell are you waiting for?" Delina barked, "Get your ass in gear and go somewhere a little more hospitable!"

The first Turian paused, glanced at his two counterparts and shrugged before the three of them scurried back onto their ship, eager to make the most of their recent spat of good luck (if not getting killed could be considered that), closing the ramp behind them and disappearing for good. Several seconds later, the ship fired up.

Delina could hear the ship firing up and lifting off, but couldn't be buggered to actually look. Instead, she detonated an already lifted Vorcha, taking out a good circle of Slashers in the process. By then, the trio of Asari was back-to-back-to-back, each fighting off a different front. None of them said anything for a minute. Not until the Turian ship was out of the dock did Delina yell: "Alright! Let's hustle!

And so they did, cutting through the mob with biotics, rockets, and the occasional fist. The Slashers would have been able to overwhelm them, but they couldn't keep them pinned down. As it turned out, it was hard to pin down biotics when all you had was unshielded, non-biotics.

It bothered Delina that they couldn't actually win; that they had to run. But she was able cheer herself right up by tossing vorcha around upon their exit.

xxxx

Delina and Evia were leaning over each other's shoulders, laughing as they finally reached the safety of the upper decks, the Slashers giving up pursuit long before the Asari stopped running. It had been a fun fight, but not a very rewarding one. Not a credit gained. No territory won. Kerla had ate the dust, but nobody really cared about that. They were back in the streets that they knew, just a few blocks from their safehouse.

"I don't get it," Tierna began in her quiet style. "Why'd we just let those Turians go? We could have got a few creds out of the deal."

Delina managed to stop laughing, wiping a laughter-induced tear from her eye, her breath quickly returning to its normal rate as she explained. "Ya know, sometimes it's about more than a few creds. It's about smacking a bunch of punks around and making sure they don't get ahead. If we fought the Slashers, we would have gotten our asses kicked. And I'm not about to let those fuckers get easy food. Besides, you gotta admit… that was one hell of a fight."

"One that I could have done without." Tierna shook her head. She was not so enthusiastic. "You're insane sometimes."

"If you don't like it, you could always head back to Twitcher territory." Delina pointed out. "As I recall, I've saved your ass a few times."

"Just an observation." Tierna refuted, admitting defeat with as little pain as possible.

"And besides," Evia added, "there's plenty of credits floating around here. I'm sure we'll be able to find way better hits."

"True enough." Delina chuckled, shaking her head and glancing down then empty street before stopping and pressing the worn actuators for the safehouse door. "Hell, someday we might even be able to move out of this place and into an A level apartment. Maybe get a few mercs to do our dirty work."

The door opened, sounding rather angry on its old, rusted rails. Evia let out a laugh before entering behind Delina. "Yeah. I doubt we'll be living close to Afterlife anytime soon. And realistically, face it: you're not gonna want to just sit around. Shit, you can't do that anyway."

Delina scoffed, making her way through the poorly lit bunker until they reached a lounge area, where she proceeded to plop down on an old, worn varren-leather sofa. True enough, she could barely sit still long enough to get on a transport off of the station. Evia sat down next to her, while Tierna stood some meters away and leaned against the wall. Delina said, "That wouldn't be a bad life, though… You could even get your nails done again."

Evia glared back, partly in jest: "Last time I got them done was two years ago. And last I checked, you haven't ever offered. _Ever_."

"No need to get all prissy about it." Delina shook her head. "Goddess. You are still such a city girl sometimes."

"Oh, here we go again…" Evia rolled her eyes. "Tell me again how hard your life was in the colonies, and how growing up on Illium makes me soft by default."

There was an awkward silence for several seconds as Delina and Evia stared each other down, testing each other as they did so often. Tierna had learned in just a few months that the two Asari squabbled like varren sometimes, and there was nothing to do but wait for them to get bored. They were too headstrong to reason with when they felt like bickering. And while they seldom fought with each other, they did bicker. A lot.

Then one of the lightbulbs several meters away flickered once and gave out – leaving three lights in the entire bunker. It was even darker than before, and in the near-darkness, Evia's exasperation was evident. At least in the light-hearted kind of way, her eyes narrowed, brow and brown markings around her eyes scrunching up.

"Well… yeah." Delina finally agreed, smiling and thinking Evia's expression was simply adorable. So their relationship went. "You kind of act that way sometimes."

"Well, sorry for having standards."

"Hey, no need to apologize. I seem to have made the cut, so I'll take it as a compliment." Delina shot back smugly.

Evia scowled a little, then looked back to the burnt-out light. After several seconds, she noted: "We should try to move up. It's been almost two years in this shitty place."

Delina was still smirking to herself, but she spoke seriously enough. "Where do you think we should go?"

"I'm not sure." Evia replied. She crossed her legs, stretching her arms out over the back of the sofa and looking at the door as she spoke. "We might be able to move up to the C blocks."

"High standards is right." Delina laughed, shook her head, then addressed Evia's ongoing ethical issues with housing: "How are we gonna pull that off without being bums or squatters?"

"We could keep flipping guns and zerowave. There's a pretty good cut to be made there. And some delegate is coming near the end of the season, right? We could see if the Warlord needs an extra few hands."

Delina nodded and thought about that last option for a moment. It wasn't glorious or exciting, but it would pull quite a few credits. They had worked with Warlord Charrac once in the past, and while he wasn't keen on hiring Asari for combat roles, he made an exception for them. "We could do that. Shit, if we didn't mind getting roped into his army, I bet we could even move up to the Bs."

"Yeah, fuck that." Evia scowled. At least in the low light it looked like a scowl. "This station is confining enough as it is. I don't really want to piss that Krogan off."

"There are other planets. Shit, I can think of quite a few that haven't even be developed. No mercs would come after us that far out."

"And do _what_? Run around like fucking savages until our clothes end up like rags?" Evia scoffed.

"We could go somewhere hot." Delina nudged Evia's knee and winked.

Evia smiled back – the kind of right sarcastic smile. "How about… _no_."

"Ok, ok. Fine. I still think it sounds like a good idea." Delina shrugged and laughed quietly. "Alright. So do we want to try and find some wares to flip tomorrow? Maybe scope out a bigger job?"

"Works for me." Evia replied simply. "Tierna, what do ya say? You in?"

The quiet Asari finally said something: "If that's what it takes to move up in the world… Yes."

"Alright!" Delina proclaimed proudly, lifting her fist lazily. "Here's to pissing off more mercs and gangs!"

"And to moving out of this varren den." Evia replied with a laugh.

xxxx


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5 – Crash and Burn_

_Delta Heavy – Empire _

xxxx

_1981, Zacharov colony, North Continent, Zavalon – 21:06 Akina Ship hours_

"She's in crit, commander!" Syaena Vann yelled, ducking down and shielding the bleeding Asari as another rocket hit the roof above them, showering the commandos with flaming bits of metal. "I can only stabilize her so much here!"

Kaira ducked down as a sniper round punched through a window near her head, the shaving grazing her barriers before she popped back up and retaliated with a singularity that took out several mercs and a gas tank. "Just keep her stable as long as you can and I'll call in the Akina!"

"There's gotta be fifty mercs out there right now!" Syaena pointed out, scrambling through med patches to control the downed Asari's bleeding. "No chance T'Vanalia can land in that shit!"

"I don't expect her to land just yet." The Spectre began, lifting a finger to the radio under her fringe. "Evitha, this mission has gone to hell in a hurry. I need you to send down a strike. Coordinates quarter click west of omni-tool location, danger close!"

"_I can do that, but I'm going to take out half the colony if you don't want to get caught in the blast." _The Akina pilot replied.

"Do it!" Kaira ordered, realizing they were going up against a force of drug runners and slave traders. "There's nothing but mercs and corpses here anyway!"

"And _they_ already blew up a processing plant." Syaena commented angrily. That would probably explain why the wounded Asari looked like she had gone through the ringer, commando leathers burnt to a char, cuts everywhere, several bullet holes in the abdomen… Vann didn't get it. The explosion, The eezo warp, the legions of mercs, what the hell was going on at this fucked up, nearly empty colony?

"_Copy that, commander. Strike incoming. You better keep your head down… things are gonna get hot."_ The Akina pilot warned.

Kaira didn't respond, just nodded and hunkered down below the window and listened – above the clouds she could hear the faint whine of the frigate's engines. She couldn't see anything since nighttime had fallen and plumes of black smoke rose into low-hanging clouds, fires illuminating all. She wasn't broken up to see this 'colony' blown to bits. The only IMFs they had been able to track were wanted Batarian slavers. And judging by the processing plant explosion after they had landed, the whole operation was used to pump out drugs of the element zero nature.

"Kaira, you got any more med patches?" Syaena asked. "I'm out… and she's still bleeding crazy bad."

The commander rolled away from her position and got closer before rummaging through her utility belt and finally finding a set of patches. She held them out hesitantly and waited – and just in time, the airstrike hit. It wasn't even that close, but it blew out the remaining windows above their heads and showered the three Asari with glass. Even behind cover, the blast was devastating – the initial impact nearly knocking them over and deafening them temporarily. Of course, the heat whipped over them, but that was a sign that it was almost over. As soon as the blast calmed down, it was silent – deathly silent except for the pitched hum of the Akina coming back around. No more merc gunfire, no more screaming and hollering. Kaira yelled into her radio: "T'Vanalia, we're ready for pickup! Bring her in wherever you can – and preferably close. Target is in critical!"

"_Copy that, commander… scoped a spot just to your north. Coming in now."_

"Alright!" Kaira continued, addressing Syaena directly. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Vann nodded and the two 517th division commandos each got under an arm of the wounded Asari. Time was ticking.

xxxx

_15:11 Akina Ship hours_

"I don't get why she would come here. There isn't anything on Zavalon. Unless you like poisonous shit and tourists." Syaena shook her head, leaned back and half out of the lounge chair in the crew quarters of the Akina, looking up from the dossier. "What the hell is she after?"

Kaira shook her head. "I'm not sure. I couldn't get much intel on this colony. It doesn't exist on most records, and the few I can find say it was evacuated."

"But…" Syaena began to protest.

"But orbital footage shows that's alive and well." Kaira finished, standing up and pacing around with a data tablet in hand. "There are people down there, ships coming and going."

"Yeah. And most of them match slaver IMFs." The vanguard snorted, not bothered to stand up. "So it's probably fucked."

"Possibly." Kaira noted, looking at the info again. "But we've tracked several of them, and none are going to the usual trading routes. If they're selling something… it's not slaves."

"What could they manufacture there?"

"I'm not sure. Zavalon has never been known as a resource-rich world." The Spectre commented. "But even if they are slavers – admittedly well organized ones – it doesn't explain why that Asari is hunting them down."

"And you said she's down there alone?"

Kaira nodded. "From what I can tell and what intel I've got my hands on, she's been running by herself for a while."

"Hmm." Syaena rubbed the back of her neck as she thought – still tender where a Krogan had punched her a few missions back. "I dunno. She's got a record. Could be anything."

"I don't think so." Kaira shook her head and looked back at the tablet. "Theft, counterfeit, blackmail, sabotage, and a few cases of murder. Judging by what she's done… Well, it seems strange that she would go after such a big operation. Revenge might be motivating her. Unfortunately, I doubt it's a drive to set right the wrongs of the galaxy."

Syaena chuckled. "Yeah. I'm just not sure how well she would fit in as a commando. I mean… she pissed everyone off on Omega so bad she had to bail."

"She also did so by bombing several slaving and drug shipping centers." Kaira pointed out. "She's not entirely bad. And you saw the footage from Omega. We could use someone like that on the squad."

Syaena nodded thoughtfully, remembering the holotape Charrac had shared with them. It showed a whole gang chasing after a single Asari – an Asari dressed like a commando. Of all the people to go after, that was a piss poor choice. Well, she lured them into a parking lot, snuck up to higher ground and picked them off one at a time with a sniper rifle. Clean kills, too. A single shaving through the skull every time. They tried to get out, but she was fast on the reshaving (or reloading, depending on what term Syaena felt like). Syaena was impressed with the ability to shoot perfectly under that stress. And the one punk who tried to sneak up on the sniper had got a boot to the face followed by a shotgun blast to the torso. No biotics, though. Vann thought that was kind of strange. Why wouldn't you use your biotics? Granted, Vann was a vanguard and relied on them heavily for transport and flinging enemies about. So she admitted that she was a little biased. Still, for a ranged fight she had immense respect for the possible recruit. "True enough. If she'll work with us."

"T'Vanalia…" Kaira began, pausing for a moment, looking to the communicator on her omni-tool. "Bring us into drop altitude above the Zacharov colony."

"_Copy that, Commander."_ The pilot replied.

"Well… get ready for a rough drop." Kaira shook her head, looking and Syaena. "The neck doing alright?"

"Huh?" Vann jolted, lost in thought as she rubbed the sore muscles. "Yeah. It'll be fine. I'll grab my kit and I'll be ready."

xxxx

Syaena felt her neck jolt as she hit the deck, dropping to a knee to absorb the last bit of impact. Her parachute had done an admirable job of lowering her several thousand meters onto the surface of Zavalon, and she landed safely on a shuttle dock roof. She just crouched there for several seconds, glancing around; surveying. The chute rustled behind her, settling quietly against the metal roof.

_The Zacharov colony…_ Syaena thought to herself. It was a fucking wreck. Several nearby building were partially caved in and on fire. It had been hit by explosives. Lots of explosives. There were fires about, black smoke rising into the air. The vanguard watched quietly as people ran about. Every one she saw was a Batarian merc. No civilians. Perhaps it wasn't a colony, but a base of operations. It might have explained why the rogue Asari went after it.

"_Vann_!" Kaira hailed over the radio, "_Drop status!"_

"Landed." Syaena replied quietly, happy to have no attention as the mercs all rushed west. Towards a larger building. "Nobody's noticed me yet."

"_Good. Do you have a view on the main processing plant?"_

"Yeah, sort of. Where did you land?"

"_I hit a smoke draft. Went off course by half a click. I'm making my way up the hill. Hold position…and see if you can figure out what's going on."_

"Copy that." Vann nodded, looking closely at the processing plant. She couldn't quite tell what was going on, but it was a mess. Mercs running everywhere. Some were running towards the plant; others were running away. From one of the higher windows, she saw a flash – a muzzle flare. A moment later, there was the distinctive crack of a sniper rifle as a merc fell. Judging by the time delay, it was about 300 meters away.

One of the mercs was trying to restore order to the chaos. A commander, maybe, trying to rally the mercs _away_ from the plant. He didn't last long before a sniper round drilled through his forehead and sent him slumping out of sight. Most of the mercs seemed intent on charging the place and getting their solitary opponent.

Syaena watched with curiously, unfolding her assault rifle and sizing up the situation. She was tired of sitting still. Her nerves were tingling, heart race increasing as she began to chart lines through the melee, scoping out targets, finding ways to stay a step ahead of the battle. There were a lot of mercs. There were even more strewn about on the ground from various wounds. The one Asari they had gone after was doing a number. Or the one Asari that had attacked them. Syaena wasn't sure what happened first.

"Goddess…" Kaira began, crouching down beside Syaena and surveying the damage. "Hard to believe a single renegade could do this much damage. Have you spotted her?"

Syaena shook her head. "Nope. I've seen muzzle flashes, but I haven't seen her. Doing a hell of a job keeping her head down."

Both commandos perked up as a merc screamed over the din:

"You're done, Asari! If we have to lose this whole damned place to get rid of you… then it's going to be a crater!"

There was an angry, unintelligible female roar in response – followed by a shot that took out the merc that had been making the ruckus.

But there was a more unsettling noise, ground starting to rattle. A second elapsed; the tremor worsened. The sniper vanished, perhaps making a desperate run. Then the explosion hit. The left half of the plant imploded for a split second, air falling in as combustion began, windows caving in and causing a mighty roar. Before anyone could so much as brace, the blast tore outward. Walls were ripped from the plant as a fiery blast tore out, lighting up the dark night sky as flames raced up.

And then there was a second blast, more aptly described as a massive warp as blue sparks shot everywhere and briefly created a mass effect field that encompassed the entire facility before giving out, transferring its energy to the air around.

Syaena had to shield her face with the last blast, stumbling back slightly in order to keep her balance. When it had quieted down enough, she snapped: "What in the hell… did they just blow up an eezo processor?"

However, her decision to yell was rather rash – as the remaining mercs suddenly focused on the two commandos.

"Ooops…" Vann uttered uncomfortably as all eyes fell on her.

"Go to work! If that Asari is still alive… we need to get her out of here!" Kaira ordered. "Charge their right flank and I'll push around the left!"

"Copy." Syaena nodded and stood up. The Asari flexed her shoulders as her biotics began to flare. Then she focused, drove her shoulders forward deliberately. She was a vanguard. Hell, she had taught herself how to form biotic corridors to charge in on enemies. It had simply become instinctive.

When the corridor ended, she was in a group of five mercs. The Asari went right to a crouch, then let the residual energy blast off – sending all five mercs flailing away – before she stood up and brought the assault rifle to her shoulder. She moved forward as she fired short deliberate bursts at exposed enemies, then had to roll out of the way as a grenade landed nearby. Back on her feet and around the corner of a small shed. The grenade went off behind her, but there was a merc in her face…and he had already kicked the rifle from her hands. Syaena didn't panic, just brushed her way in, deflecting his poorly aimed blows, drawing her combat knife and delivering a swift slash across his throat.

With the merc dispatched, Vann was free to move up. And so she did, grabbing her rifle and swinging back into the open to lay down more fire. Some meters away, a singularity pulled several mercs together before detonating. Kaira's way of getting through crowds. Syaena noted the population of remaining mercs and decided to keep pressing forward. Too many to take on directly. She charged again, coming out on top of a storage shed that nearly collapsed under her weight. The few mercs that had tracked her path were too far away to accurately damage her barriers before she leapt into another charge – again into a group of mercs.

This time, the vanguard drove all her weight into the butt of her rifle, and subsequently into a single merc. His armor did little to soften the blow, and there was no telling how much damage he took from the impact. But he did take out several other Batarians before cratering into a trailer from where he did not move. Still, Syaena had to deal with the other mercs that decided to rush her. Ah, but her mind was elsewhere and she couldn't be bothered to actually deal with them. So she charged past, landing on a small section of processing plant roof and then diving through an already broken window and rolling on the deck inside. Flat ground, which was surprising. To her.

Syaena glanced around the maelstrom of broken glass, collapsed sections of roof, and small, localized fires. They weren't very important to the vanguard, though. She had a specific target in mind. The Asari rebel. Vann peered through the smoke an half-light for just a minute more before spotting commando leathers. Partially exposed, partially trapped underneath a fallen beam. Completely still. It wasn't looking very good. Syaena cursed under her breath and ran up, dropping to her knees and immediately checking for a pulse.

There was a faint thump against Syaena's thumb. It wasn't good, but it was what she would have to work with. She began moving debris out of the way, assessing the injuries. The renegade had taken some serious damage from the blast and was out cold, blood trickling from her fringe and various other parts of her armor, a chuck of metal lodged in her abdomen, a blood-soaked rag tied around her left arm, the better part of the right arm of her armor burnt down to the skin… and those were only the major injuries.

Syaena paused just long enough to radio Kaira: "Commander, I found her! She's out cold, but… she's alive!"

"_Good! Keep her stable and I'll make my way over!"_

xxxx

"Commander, she's coming around!" Dr. T'Kaen yelled from just outside the med bay. "You'd best get over here before she flips her lid!"

Kaira set down the datapad, rising from the mess hall table and rolling her eyes slightly before silently signaling Syaena to come along. The doctor never wanted to take responsibility for rowdy patients. So the two commandos made their way into the med bay, nodding to T'Kaen as they passed.

Admittedly, the renegade Asari looked much better with an clean grey ship uniform and with her wounds all treated. She winced as she slowly sat up, peering about the strange confines and trying to make out the new faces. Kaira sat down on the bed next to her, while Syaena perched on the desk three meters away and sat on one bent leg. The commander just waited for several seconds as the rebel Asari stared at her, trying to figure everything out. Considering what she had gone through, and what was to be proposed, Kaira figured she could use the time. Finally, the 517th commander began: "I'm sorry for the rather unusual introduction. You were in rough shape when we found you. We patched you up best we could, but… it'll be a little while until you're at 100% again."

The rogue didn't respond.

Kaira raised her brow slightly. It was going to be even harder than she expected. "I'm Kaira T'Suni, 517th commando unit -"

"You're a Spectre, aren't you?" The other Asari interjected, noticeably tensing. "I've heard of you. Always beat me why a Spectre'd work out in the worst of it." She shook her head as she continued. "So I guess this is it. You're here to apprehend me for attacking a colony and a whole slew of other shit."

"Actually… no." Kaira began, shifting subtly on the med bed. "Delina T'Kasan, isn't it?" The renegade nodded and Kaira continued. "No, I've been trying to track you down for other reasons."

"Yeah? Is that right?"

The commander nodded softly. "I've been tracking you long enough to see that you have a purpose. I don't know what it is, but you've stuck to it even until it damn near cost your life. I'm not sure what or who you're after, but I know that it's important. You have a mission and skills; I have intel and resources. It would be our best interests to work together."

"I don't need your help. I would have been fine."

"Yeah right." Syaena interjected. "If I had been slower in patching you up, you would have bled out on Zavalon. And you're welcome, by the way."

The rebel Asari shot the commando a quick, icy look but remained silent for a few seconds before looking back to Kaira "Fine. You made your point. What do you want?"

"The 517th squad needs another member, someone with… long range skills." Kaira suggested.

"Now hold on…" Delina began. "I'm no commando. I've never had a day of training in my life, and I sure as hell ain't about to give up a free roam on the galaxy. I'm not interested."

Kaira remained patient. "Hear me out. I don't expect you to sign up for any great heart-felt cause, but the truth of the matter is… I can help you. Your record? Gone. Instead, you'll have a chance to start over."

The rebellious Asari shook her head, staring at the floor. The pain drips were noticeably wearing off – and she could feel her injuries. Still she kept up the temper. "I could give a fuck about my record. If you want to help me, give me the resources to finish this goddamn war I've gotten myself into."

"I need reasons too." Kaira reminded her.

Delina huffed, then began slowly. "You wanna know why I attacked that colony – no, that slaving outpost? Zerowave. It was a fucking processing plant. I've been tracking this operation since Omega. The major operators are dead. I made damn sure of that. But there's still outposts and operations. New management taking over. I won't stop until the entire thing is driven three meters under. More than anything, I don't want… I don't wanna see this happen again."

"Never seen someone run such a crusade against Zerowave. What gives?" Syaena asked.

The rebel growled for a moment. "I made my fair share of mistakes. And because of that Zerowave, good people died. Crushing out the source was the only thing I could do."

_Striking out for revenge is only going to damage her..._ Kaira thought, but held her tongue. Instead, she offered "I expect more details from you, but I'll help shut down the operation."

"You do that, and I'll join your squad. For now." Delina replied.

"Then we have a base understanding. But this only works if I can trust you. If you're part of the squad, then you're going to need to be just that." Kaira warned, testing the rebel's temperance.

"That goes both ways, T'Suni. The only reason I'm giving you a shot is because you aren't like the rest of the commandos I've seen. I've heard of you before, never quite playing by the rules. Not blind like most. And hey, you already know where we'll be working. But I'll make one thing clear: I am who I am. Don't try to change me."

"Alright. I can abide by that so long as you don't endanger my squad." Kaira nodded slowly.

"What about my gear? Did any of it make it out of Zacharov?" Delina asked, seemingly sidetracked.

"I left them. That eezo blast destroyed the accelerators. Would have been too much work to refurb them." Syaena explained.

"Damn." Delina muttered and shook her head.

"Personal attachment?" The Spectre asked.

"No more than the hours I dumped tuning each one up. Well, that and they're my only means of ranged combat. Besides fucking throwing knifes."

"Yeah," Syaena began inquisitively, leaning forward on her elbows. "How come you don't ever use your biotics?"

"I have my reasons." The recruit snarled. "Not something I'm going to discuss."

Kaira shot the vanguard a look, signaling to leave that matter for later. "I'll put a requisition for a new kit, Delina. Commando issue armor and weapons. We've got a free spot in the armory if you think you can tune up our current weapons."

"I modded a civ sniper to take barriers out in one shot. Of course I can tweak proper grade gear." Delina responded, snorting as though insulted. "Believe me, when you rely on them exclusively... I know what I'm doing."

"Good to hear." Kaira almost wondered what she was getting herself into – the arms specialist was a powderkeg. It was going to be a trick to keep her burning without completely blowing up. "Once you've settled in a bit more, we'll have a proper debrief."

"Wait…" Delina began, glancing between Kaira and Syaena several times and sounding shocked. "_This_ is the 517th? The two of you?"

Kaira nodded slowly, wondering why that was an issue. "Well, the three of us now…but yes. Is there a problem with that?"

"I thought there'd be a lot more people I'd have to try and get along with. Never worked well with crowds." Delina explained. "So no, if anything it makes me think you're alright." She paused, trying to hide a smirk as she added: "For a Spectre, at least."

"Well… I'm glad you think so." Kaira chuckled quietly. "Welcome to the 517th."

xxxx


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Well, kids… pack your bags, because we're going on a feel trip. **

**More Delina backstory. I actually avoided writing this for a while, but it was a huge part of CE:FC, so it damn well better be explained. Still. Feels bad, man.**

**xxxx**

_Chapter 6 – The End of the Run _

_Gary Jules – Mad World_

_xxxx_

_1975, Illium_

For Illium, Challenger Nightclub was considered a nice place. High on a set of triple spires, it was frequented by the classier denizens (generally referred to as those with deeper pockets) of the border world. Of course it was still a magnet for fraud, illegal trading, prostitution and drug dealing, but chances of getting stabbed or shot on the premises were much lower than anywhere else. In part, that was due to the three Krogan bodyguards that always stuck together by the entrance. Some believed that they were brothers, but regardless they kept out all undesirables.

Evia T'Laen and Delina T'Kasan were, at least based on appearance, far from undesirable. The bouncers had given the duo an eye over before and after they entered the club. To most any outsider, they were two well-dressed Asari that could flaunt and did just that with short strapless dresses. And certainly the two Asari would be on their best behavior for the night. Which meant only a few fist fights and probably no deaths.

So there they were, the two adepts pushing their way to the bar through half-darkness and lasers. It was places like the nightclub that the thriving galaxy shown. Most smiles were genuine and spirits were high. Business was good for the bartender. Delina had to shove a lanky Salarian out of the way before she could lean in and yell out, "Two ryncol shots!"

"Not wasting any time, hmm?" Evia teased, playfully jabbing Delina in the ribs.

Without commando leathers, Delina flinched, trying to contain a stupid grin. "Well why not?"

"Usually you don't go for a drink after you hit the wave." The Asari with brown markings commented, referring her partner's Zerowave habit.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what's up." Delina shrugged and rubbed the side of her neck where she usually shot up. "This new batch is shit. There's barely any hit. Tydo was lying through his teeth."

Evia nodded slowly, smirking faintly as she usually did when the banter began and within moments forgetting her worries about the zerowave. She certainly didn't like the stuff, especially after trying it a number of times, and didn't understand how Delina could keep the habit. "What, were you expecting big fight tonight?"

"I wouldn't complain." Delina chuckled, retrieving two shot glasses with the Krogan alcohol and passing one to Evia. "Well, cheers. Here's to being on top of the fucking world."

Evia smirked as she raised the glass, glancing at it and then to Delina and jabbing. "Not bad for a gutter rat like you used to be."

They took their shots, and subsequently reeled for several seconds. In that time, Delina raised her middle finger in mock anger until she could mange words. "Fuck off. I paid for your drink."

"With my money, I might say." Evia coughed. "And Tierna's, I might add. You should feel bad."

"It's all the same." Delina grumbled and tossed her shot glass to the wash bin.

"If it's all the same, then I dare say I paid for my own drink." Evia kept up the ribbing.

"I see why your parents kicked you out at thirty. And you're still a pain."

"You just don't understand class." Evia scoffed, feigning her best dramatic look. "Besides, I wasn't kicked out. I was moved to a private university where I could study biomedical engineering."

Delina was silent for several seconds as she draped an arm over her partner's shoulders, a smug smile all the while. "Bullshiiit. You were kicked out."

"Whatever." Evia chuckled.

"At least your parents are still alive, unlike other people."

"Yes, and that way I get to hear how disappointed they are in me." Evia rolled her eyes. "I swear to the goddess, if I didn't love you so damn much I'd go back and get my degree. Or something. Do they accept credits from fifty years ago?"

"Why the hell you asking me? I have no fucking clue." Delina burst out. "Wouldn't they check your record, anyway?"

"Ugh, I forgot about that. Dammit."

"Well damn. I guess you'll have to stay out here." Delina winked mischievously, knowing full well that they didn't actually have other options. Not good ones, anyhow.

Evia was going to make some comment back when they were approached by a slick Turian in an important-looking suit. "Ladies…"

Evia began giggling into her partner's shoulder and Delina raised her eyebrow. He couldn't be serious. And if so…

"I just happen to have a window room. The views… are stunning."

"Listen, bud." Delina began, stepping towards the Turian. "Go run your talk on some dumb young maiden. It might actually work, because it sure as hell won't on this pureblood bitch."

The Turian stared at the hostile Asari for several seconds, rather dumbfounded. Then without a word he turned and sulked away. Delina chuckled to herself and grabbed Evia's hand.

Evia shook her head, and after holding her tongue for a good two seconds, noted. "I'd be careful who you told that to. A lot of people are starting to throw 'pureblood' around as an insult."

"Those people are fucking idiots." Delina stated callously as she drug Evia towards the dancefloor.

"Sure, but I have to dig your sorry face out of trouble as it is. Do you really have to make things harder on me?"

"Aww…" Delina cooed, mocking at an all-time high as she pulled her partner close on the edge of the main floor.

The night was still young. And for the two Asari… Being the center of attention wasn't a bad thing. Not this time.

xxxx

Even on still summer nights the wind kicked up at the top of the tallest towers, especially on the highest spires that rose above the city lights. It was as dark as Illium got, the perpetual glow rising from below.

And they had the balcony to themselves, the two Asari rogues that had managed to fool enough people to blend in to Illium high society for a good several hours. Now they leaned on the railing, shoulder-to-shoulder as they looked out over the city to the north. Both sweaty from dancing. Delina had a bit of blood on her lip from where she had exchanged blows with a Batarian. Yet the smile remained on her face. "What a night."

"You could almost get used to living up here." Evia shook her head as she gazed over the lights.

"Maybe. Don't push it." Delina scoffed.

"We've sure come a long ways from living in the E Blocks on Omega."

Delina bowed her head and laughed. "Don't remind me of that place. It was such a shithole."

"Oh good, you do have some standards!" Evia ribbed gleefully.

"A few, yeah."

They were silent for a while, leaning against each other and enjoying the open space with the tower rising only two stories more behind their back. It was one hell of a break from the crowded, stuffy nightclub.

Delina was the first to make a move, brushing into Evia's shoulder to turn the other Asari around before pressing her back into the balcony railing and bringing their foreheads together. Evia responded with a coy smile, setting her arms on Delina's shoulders, hands hanging lightly on her partner's back. "I wonder if there's surveillance cameras out here."

"Does it matter?" Delina muttered, brushing her lips against Evia's cheek before planting a kiss at the base of her fringe.

"No, but they're going to get one hell of a show." The brown-marking Asari replied, turning her head to the side as Delina kissed her neck, and arching her back over the rail. Trust. Had Delina so much as stepped back, Evia would have plunged.

Delina let out some uttering of a laugh as she kissed the bare shoulder one last time and then brought herself back to Evia's face, hovering millimeters away as she murmured. "Let them have their show."

Neither said another word, nor could they, as Delina moved in with energy she had been holding back all night and cradled her partner's chin. Face to face and lip to lip. If anyone was watching the camera feeds, they were getting quite the show indeed.

Delina edged back just enough to get a good lock on Evia's green eyes, smirk and then let her higher-thought biotics flare as the world went black. Dark except for the bundle of bright lines that represented Evia's waiting consciousness. Delina reached out like she had thousands of times before, brought that mind towards her own where they could mesh. Just as they did, forefront thoughts beginning to merge, there was a snap. Evia must have stepped, or pushed Delina – away.

The blankface snapped back to reality, still holding her partner as she asked. "Evia? What is it?"

Evia's head rolled back and her body fell forward into Delina's arms, taking them both down. Delina landed on her knees, her partner's limp head resting in her lap and other limbs sprawled haphazardly.

"Evia!" Delina screamed as loud as her suddenly constricted throat would allow, refusing to believe what was going on as she rolled the Asari with brown markings onto her back so that they were again face to face. "No… NO! You're not…. You…"

Delina began to stammer as she saw those green eyes again, sitting slack in their sockets. Lifeless. She put her shaky hand to Evia's neck and felt nothing. No movement in the muscles, no pulse.

She was crying. It took a moment for Delina to register that the drops of water on Evia's face were her own tears as she had never cried before. Never had real reason to. And now… Now it was uncontrollable sobs that forced the tears from her.

"I did this, didn't... Didn't I?" Delina asked, whispering between sobs as she pulled Evia closer, so that the still Asari lay mostly in her lap, head against Delina's chest.

There was no answer.

But Delina knew. Or she was beginning to realize, as she sat there sobbing and holding her dead mate, that she was responsible. She wanted to refuse the thought. She wasn't an Ardat-Yakshi; she had melded with Evia and others thousands of times before. Yet something, something had obviously gone awry. Evia was dead. _Dead_! The word kept digging into Delina, no matter how much she sobbed or how tightly she shut her eyes. It didn't change the fact that Evia was limp in her arms.

Several minutes passed. Delina was exhausted enough to where she could function through the sobbing. The adept lifted her right hand and activated her biotics.

Instead of the gentle blue aura, there were arcs of blue electricity. Violent and uncontrollable. Even as Delina stopped sobbing entirely to focus, her biotics did not return to normal. It was not her emotional state.

Then it dawned on her: Zerowave. The new batch that she had just got that evening.

"No…" Delina whimpered, head bowed over and her forehead against Evia's. "I killed her."

For months, years, Evia had been worried about Delina and her attraction, no, addiction to, Zerowave. Delina had just laughed it off, said she was fine. Now she wasn't fucking fine, and Evia was dead. Why didn't she listen? She certainly never needed 'wave, even in combat. And that recklessness had caught up to her. Delina gazed at the face with brown markings and murmured, "My Evia… My sweet Evia…"

She was gone. Delina struggled, even refused that notion for minutes, but know that was the simple truth.

Their run was over.

Delina leaned forward and kissed Evia one last time, lips lingering against those losing their warmth. She slowly drew away. Closed the lids over those green eyes. Pulled Evia close to her chest, refusing to let go just yet. "Goddess forgive me…"

Evia had always said, should she be the one to get shot down first, that she wanted to be exonerated by flames. Even in death she was still a pain in the ass.

Delina slowly rose, heaving the body of her partner up, then struggling to stand with the additional weight. She only hoped that she could make it back to the outskirt warehouses without attracting any more attention.

xxxx

Delina stepped back from the makeshift pyre, rather falling to her knees. She had taken no breaks in getting everything together. Getting out to the warehouse district was tough enough, but scrounging enough wood and fuel was a chore unto itself. Hours had passed and she had been in a fully kitted commando uniform.

The Asari adept sat there on her ankles, staring at the finished pyre. Wood scraps and fuel barrels arranged to create a table of sorts. Of all the ways it could have ended, after all the scuffles the duo had with pirates, peacekeepers, mercs and deserters, it was her, Delina, responsible for Evia's death.

Delina turned the lighter over in her hands for several minutes, remember all the good times the two had. Raiding warships on dares, stealing hovercars from Councilor estates, fighting in small land wars, and overall being an inseparable, chaotic, youthful and passion-fueled duo.

"Goodbye, Evia." She whispered, trying to coax her tear-soaked cheeks to smile. "I'll make damn sure this never happens again."

Then she tossed the lighter to the edge of the pyre and rose her feet as flames leapt up, engulfed the whole bed and the Asari in commando leathers. Within seconds, the blaze licked at the ceiling of the old warehouse and Delina could feel the heat burn into her leathers. She was forced to back away, eyes never leaving her partner.

Her partner now engulfed in flame. Delina's gaze trailed the lapping inferno skywards, opening her mouth to say something. Finally she managed to choke out, nearly yelling: "Evia, I promise you this: Never again. Not the biotics, not the Zerowave. If you can ever forgive me, I'm going to do every single damned thing to make sure this never happens again. I should have listened. All those times you told me that you were worried, that I should stop shooting up. You were right. I wish, more than anything, it didn't take your life to realize what mattered. Goddess protect you now."

Delina took another step back and stood in silence.

A nearby door burst open. Delina barely turned her head to see Tierna, the third member of their gang in grey armor, rushing in with her eyes wide, out of breath. "Delina! What happened?"

"What the fuck do you think happened? Evia's dead!" She snapped at the young Omega Asari. "I'm going to track the bastards down who did this to her, and I'm going to kill every last one of them."

Tierna stood there with her mouth open, holding something in her right hand as she stammered. "But what everything here? What about our base?"

"It's yours. The credits, the crates, the guns. I've got everything I need on my armor." Delina continued, snarling as the flames lit up half her face and shadowed the other.

"At least let me come with you. Please. I can provide support, or -"

"No." Delina shut her down right there and began walking past, towards the door. "This is my fight now."

Tierna was left standing there, holding her right hand up and clenched, watching the fire rising higher. She didn't know what to think. While they didn't always get along, Delina and Evia were all she had for family. One was burning, the other was walking away. Tierna turned and yelled after Delina: "Goddess watch over you!"

There was no response.

Tierna bowed her head, opened the palm of her hand. Delina's silver locket. She had grabbed it when she realized the older Asari was moving out for good, running, or something along those lines. Tierna shook her head and slipped the chain over her fringe and tucked the locket into her armor. Safe keeping.

xxxx

It didn't take Delina long to hunt Tydo Korvec down. The Turian was a low-levels drug dealer, and not overly concerned about security. Hell, Delina had only noted a two guards around the office. They hadn't spotted the commando sneaking well above their heads on the warehouse roof.

Nor did the two guards notice as she snuck out above their heads, drew a combat knife, and dropped. The first one was caught off guard as the commando landed on his shoulders and drove a knife between his fringes. The other guard barely had a chance to realize what was going on before Delina slammed into his neck with her fist, crushing his windpipe and knocking him down. Then she sheathed the knife and entered the building.

Tydo was easy to find, being the only one still in an office. It was nearly midnight anyhow. He didn't look up as Delina sat down, didn't bother looking away from the profit reports. "My, Delina. You're back for more in a hurry."

She snarled, drew her heavy pistol under the table and shot him right in the knee. "I didn't come back for more."

"Spirits damn it! Guards! Guards!" He howled as he fell out of the chair, clutching his shattered knee.

"They're dead. It's just me and you, Tydo." Delina stood up and rounded the desk, keeping her pistol in her right hand. "I just made you ten years older. Tell me what I want to know and I might not do it again."

"Fine, fine. The hell do you want?" The Turian hissed.

"Who's the new supplier? The one who sold you the last batch of Zero?" Delina asked, sitting on the corner of the desk and keeping her pistol trained on the dealer.

"I'm not telling you that!" He spat.

There was no delay between his refusal and a second pistol crack, followed by the shattering of his other knee. "Twenty year older. You birds don't live that long."

"Dammit, ok! It's some big organization out of Omega." The Turian managed while lying on his stomach, arms tucked under his torso where they were less likely to be shot. "Now will you just fucking leave me be?"

"I need a name."

"You drive a hard bargain… Spirits." He shook his head. "Fine. It's a Batarian by the name of Kelross. I've got his info on my desk."

Delina looked over the desk and sifted through papers with her left hand until she found what she was looking for. A whole damn file. The Asari skimmed through the information briefly. Bank accounts, contacts, processing plants. Exactly what she wanted.

"So, are you gonna leave now?" The Turian asked.

Delina took her time in folding up the file and tucking it under her arm before standing up and kicking the dealer over so that he had to face her. "I have something for you. From Evia."

Then she shot Tydo once, right in the forehead, turned, and began towards the exit. Holstered her pistol and pocketed the papers.

She popped her neck as she stepped out into the Illium night. Omega was the last place she wanted to revisit. Years back, her and Evia had to leave after pissing off too many mercs. And now she was going back. Alone. To start a war.

Nothing but the guns on her back and the spite tearing on her every nerve.

xxxx


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So, I might have lied when I said I was going to keep this more updated. Apologies to all of you who have been following and faving. You guys are awesome and I do appreciate the support.**

**Since I already have the chapters, I'm going to just dump the rest of Chaos Effect: Dawning up here. I'm going to be traveling and working for several months with limited internet, so I'm not sure if I would be able to keep this updated otherwise.**

**With all that said, I hope you enjoy the rest of these random little snippets!**

_Chapter 7 – The Engineer _

_Robot Koch – The Other Side_

_xxxx_

_Thessia, 1994_

"Come on, Rana. Stop acting like an old monastery keeper and come along for once!" Venia pressed, tugging lightly at her roommate's dress as a small child would. Venia T'Verik never could understand why someone would go to university only to bury their fringe in books and leave the room as seldom as possible. That was only half of the whole reason to go in the first place! And Rana was a nice maiden, too – Venia considered her a close friend, just quiet and studious. The type that needed to get out and get wild. They were both in their late forties – still an age where Thessia would not judge them for bad decisions. It was a opportunity they would never have again.

"My apologies, Venia…" Rana began, glancing up from a book to look at her roommate. The two shared a small flat within the University, just enough room for the two of them. Rana's desk was covered with books and data tablets. "I can't right now. I'm trying to finish a report on nanotech development… and I am scheduled for a meeting later tonight."

The other Asari begged with her eyes, giving Rana her best pleading face – very pouty, brow furrowed, fretting her green eyes. But it didn't have much impact on her roommate. Rana continued with a soft smile: "Please. Do not let me keep you from having fun. I will certainly join you another time."

"Yeah, but… but but but!" Venia protested. "We're going to be graduating soon! Graduating! This is one of the last chances you'll have! I mean, if you want to just stay here and be all responsible, fine… but… come on, Rana!"

"I will join you next time."

"Really? There's another party tomorrow. At the north campus club. I think a few bands are coming in. It should be wild. You should come." Venia was easily excited and bounced on her toes as she spoke.

"I…I shall plan on that." Rana nodded. "For at least a little while."

"As long as you actually do it this time… last time you ended up running off for some exam. You gotta have a little fun before you leave… Please?"

Rana glanced down slightly abashed – she had said she would make it then, and she did not. "I wi- you have my word, Venia."

"That's the spirit!" The other student grinned, spinning away and doing a little bow – grinning all the while. "I'll tell you alllll about tonight – I hear Tyrin Yvrick might even be visiting! I'm so excited I just might, oh, I don't know… Stay up for five days straight just to get a wink in at him?"

The young T'Lan smiled at Venia – and her obsession with the graduated Turian. In Rana's mind, it was a waste of precious time that could be spend working. Still, she was happy to see her friend so excited. "I need not remind you to have fun."

"You know it. Don't work yourself into the ground." Venia winked as she leaned against the door – a simple, two-way actuated panel – and looked at Rana for a moment before slipping out into the hallway.

The door closed, and for a few seconds Rana started at the space where her roommate had stood before, spacing out from her work and thinking about what she could potentially be missing. After several seconds, she couldn't come up with anything. So she looked back to the book she was currently reading through. It was a few years old, regarding cybernetic principles. It was all theory, as it turned out. None of the technology mentioned would actually work. Rana flipped through a few more pages before giving up and picking an even newer book dealing with multi-level encryption. She began where she had left off – dealing with some of the issues of corrupt decryption commands.

She didn't get very far before an alarm went off on her omni-tool, a reminder to get ready to go out. Without waiting, she shut the book and leapt up from the desk. There was very little she needed. A coat from the closet – simple grey synthetic material since the weather was getting cooler. She pulled it on over her dress, zipping it up and adjusting the collar. Then she grabbed a small, brown leather case and headed out the door.

xxxx

The sun was just going down as Rana stepped off of the air bus, walking along a raised walkway in the south part of the city. It was mostly government affairs, things she was generally uncomfortable with. But then again, it was not her first time to the district, certainly not her first time walking the exact same walkway. She had been here more and more often.

Rana watched her reflection in a wall of glass to her right, as if expecting to see something else besides the young Asari with navy blue face markings. She was not nervous; there was nothing to be alarmed about. It was just another training session. Then she realized what was amiss with her reflection – she didn't look like a commando. She had seen other recruits at the training facility and they held themselves differently. Rana didn't understand where the differences lay, but… she knew they were there.

It was not long before she reached the training facility. Even from the 20th floor walkway, it was a tall building – dark, mirrored glass reaching up into the sky. It was unmarked, but Rana knew it simple as the commando headquarters. Training, documentation, and deployment. Rana had only seen parts of it; as much as she could after training. They weren't keen on letting her wander around.

Still, she was comfortable entering the large sliding glass doors, eyes adjusting to the dark interior. It was designed to be practical but still look nice. There was a receptionist waiting.

"T'Lan… Welcome back." Rana recognized the Asari behind the desk, knowing that she worked at the headquarters, but did not recall a name. "Commander T'Yevis is waiting for you on the 5th floor."

"Thank you." Rana nodded, continuing into the lobby and ascending a small set of stairs and reaching the lift. She had to wait on the elevator, preparing herself for whatever training exercises would be thrown at her. T'Yevis was a tough commander. Rana had trained with her before, and knew more or less what to expect. Lots of biotic work, stealth, close-quarters combat. The young T'Lan realized she was a bit nervous, since none of those were her strong skills. But she would work through the session.

The lift reached the 5th floor. Rana stepped out, apprehensively looking around. Like the other lower floors, it was used for training. There were a few armories about, work benches… and of course, hallways leading to training grounds. It was state of the art stuff, allowing for military training in the middle of a city. Of course there was field training, but that didn't happen on Thessia.

The young T'Lan took several steps, looking around a seemingly empty intersection. Standing on the corner of two perpendicular hallways, she had glanced two ways before T'Yevis greeted her harshly: "T'Lan. Best get your kit together. Training demo in five. Room five-thirteen."

Rana glanced at the commander, assessing her quickly. Like usual, T'Yevis was in her leather uniform, standing tall and rigid, hands clasped behind her back, jaw tight and face expressionless as if she were containing some great energy that would escape and wreck havoc if she loosened up.

The young engineer just nodded. "Yes commander."

T'Yevis took off at her purposeful stride. Rana watched for a moment, shook her head, then headed to the change rooms. She only hoped that she was prepared enough.

xxxx

Rana stretched her arms out as she entered room 513. The leather armor brought a sense of familiarity to her, protection fused with legacy. It was an older armor, one of those with a slightly darker leather sash across her chest and over her right shoulder for additional protection. It was traditional, but it was also just what she got. The palms and fingers of the armor were well worn, leather thin and soft - much better for running her omni-tool or any weapons since dexterity and feeling was increased.

T'Yevis was standing next to a table, waiting, still stiff and watching Rana intently as she approached, speaking quietly and precisely. "Here's the gear you'll need for training today. Kit up and we'll get started as soon as you're ready."

"Understood, Commander." Rana nodded once and surveyed the table – empty except for a combat-grade omni-tool and a practice pistol that fired relatively harmless, charged pellets. She took both, glancing around the small preparation room once, noting that it was barren except the table and two doors. One coming from the hall; the other leading into the training area. She checked her equipment one last time and then reported: "I am ready."

"Good." T'Yevis nodded, seeming more distant than usual. "We're just going through adaptation training. You've got a gun, biotics, and tech skills. Expect to use them all."

"Understood." The young T'Lan holstered the pistol and faced the door, arms by her sides and hands loose while she stared straight ahead. As the metal doors parted, she could see through and start to assess what she was going to be up against. From what she could see, there was bit of low cover behind hip-tall walls and a few crates. Nothing unusual. There were no alternate routes, no way to sneak around obstacles, though. That was strange for T'Yevis. Her training courses usually had several ways around a problem.

Another step and the door closed behind her.

Rana strode forward and scanned the area for any bots or turrets. Training usually threw that sort of thing at her. Sure enough, after a few seconds, two hovering drones deployed and began to scan for a target. So the engineer leapt forward and slid into cover behind a barricade while arming her omni-tool and preparing to move against the two relatively harmless drones.

Well, she thought they were harmless until several accelerated metal shavings ricocheted off of the top of the barricade. With some surprise, Rana quickly checked her barriers before springing out.

An overload was already set on the omni-tool, frying one of the drones completely and shocking the other to the point where it simply fell to the ground buzzing and whining. Rana moved up quickly and dispatched with her pistol. As it turned out, it too was loaded with metal shavings. Lethal.

Rana knew she should have been worried, but she was only focused on getting through. And she had a lot of ground to cover.

Then two bots unfolded from cover and overclocked their kinetic shielding. A simple overload wouldn't take them out before they would open fire. So the engineer glanced over to a smaller crate then charged her biotics to toss the metal container at the bots. Her aim could not have been better. The single projectile decked out both in one hit, sending them skidding away on the floor in a shower of sparks and defeated whines.

She made it five more steps before having to drop and slide into cover again as a turret deployed ten meters away and sent a hail of shavings in her direction. She loaded up another overload, popped out of cover long enough to stun the turret and then follow through with five well-placed pistol rounds.

With the turret out of the way, the path was clear. It seemed like a strangely short test, but Rana was fine with that. There had been enough nasty surprises as it had been. She did not feel like more would be necessary.

But she was wrong. A forcefield suddenly activated, cutting off access to the exit.

Rana noted the new development, then proceeded to bring up her omni-tool and set to work. It took her less than second to locate the internal network responsible for the field generators. Once she got that far, she ran into the encryption. It was tough setup with a complicated layering system. She had only done a little work with such advanced encryption since it was so rare.

When she studied encryptions, Rana had gone out of her way to learn how to deal with the multiple levels, even writing a script to organize the first two levels while she began cracking the third. More than anything, it was a nuisance since the third level depended on the upper two, but in order to decrypt the first two you had to know what was being decrypted. There were still tricks, and Rana knew what to look for. She knew how to match up bits from each level and quickly break through all three.

In less than a minute, the forcefield was down. Rana continued forward hesitantly and half expected more challenges to arise. But the doors opened and she was able to make her way through.

T'Yevis was waiting just outside in a decompression room, along with another commando that Rana had not seen before. Tall, a confident face with red markings, the new commando wore a simple leather uniform.

Commander T'Yevis nodded at Rana once as if to give her approval, then introduced the other Asari. "T'Lan, this is Spectre Kaira T'Suni, commander of the 517th unit. She's here…to evaluate your performance." T'Yevis sounded as if she was forcing her words. "I'll let you discuss everything in private. Need anything and I'll be in the barracks, 14th floor."

"Thank you Commander." The Spectre replied respectfully and waited until T'Yevis left the room before turning to Rana and offering a slight smile. "Rana T'Lan. Good to finally meet you. My apologies for the short notice and improvised testing." T'Suni signaled towards the door and continued as two walked forward. "I hope that practice run wasn't too unnerving."

"It… it was rather unexpected." Rana began, scratching her head and walking in step with the 517th commander down the hallway – towards one of the balconies that looked over the lower reaches of the city. "If you don't mind my asking, Spectre… What is the meaning behind this?"

"Please, it's just Kaira." The Spectre responded, then paused for a moment as they reached the balcony door. Tinted glass slid out of the way and the two Asari stepped out into the evening Thessia air. "T'Yevis didn't disclose everything to you, reasoning that any additional pressure would change your performance."

Rana shook her head as the door opened and she looked out over the lower cityscape and stepped into the outside air. "So, Spect – rather, Kaira, just to be certain: this is a performance test?"

"In a way." T'Suni began, leaning on the balcony railing and watching Rana. "But to be more precise, it's a candidacy evaluation."

Rana stared for a moment, shook her head and gulped.. "Y-you mean… to have completed training and be considered for squad assignment?"

"Ultimately, yes." The Spectre replied. "You've been training here for five years, correct?"

"That's correct."

"And you're nearly completed with a degree at the university?"

"That is also correct."

Kaira nodded once and shifted her gaze back to the cityscape. "T'Yevis said you wanted to be considered for assignment once you were through basic training and university. Is that still the case?"

"It is, Sp – Kaira." Rana quickly corrected herself. "I hoped to be assigned to a unit near the Terminus border. From what research I have done, I would be able to provide some assistance to others. But I suppose that is all dependent on my performance."

"Well," T'Suni began with a faint chuckle. "I designed the training course you just ran through. It very easily could have lethal, but your barriers didn't absorb a single impact."

Rana nodded and listened. She watched Kaira and did not blink.

"And then the encryption. I brought that with me. It was a Citadel-grade encryption."

The engineer's head stopped. She had cracked through the highest level encryption available? For a moment she tried to stammer: "B-but- but those are impossible to decrypt!"

"Evidently not. You made short work of it, and I doubt that's something you learned here or at the university. That's not exactly common material as far as I can tell."

"Well, no, not exactly…" Rana managed, rubbing her fringe nervously and hoping she had not done wrong.

"In terms of hacking ability, that puts you near, if not at the top, of commando dossiers. The rest of your skills – gun handling and biotics – are up to par. Right where I'd expect a fifth-year recruit to be, if not a little further up the spire." Kaira explained. "What this means is… you're ready to enter squad assignment, should you chose to do so."

"I -" Rana began, trying to make words fit together. "I did not think that… There was… Thank you. I am unsure of what else to say, and I am certain I owe you that much."

"You're welcome, Rana." Kaira paused for a moment. "There is another thing. Since the 517th is a Spectre-led squad, it doesn't fall under squad assignment regulations. I have the freedom to pick whomever I see fit."

Rana nodded hesitantly. If the Spectre was suggesting what Rana thought she was… well, the young engineer didn't know what to think and she did not want to let her hopes get ahead of her.

"The truth is, anyone could have assessed you for candidacy evaluation. I came here because your dossier caught my attention. The 517th squad currently only consists of two specialists, neither of whom are engineers." Kaira continued. "The decision is yours, but I can offer you a position within the 517th."

"You – you mean as a commando? In a Spectre unit?" Rana managed, jaw rather slack as she stared at Kaira.

The Spectre looked back and nodded. "Yes. It will be full-duty assignment, based out of the AMF Akina. We'll be working in the Terminus on various missions, Council-assigned and otherwise. It won't be an easy arrangement, so you can decline if you so chose."

"No." Rana almost cut the Spectre off, barely containing her excitement. "It would be an honor to join your squad, Spectre. When can I begin?"

Kaira smiled at the enthusiasm. "There is no set time. I figured you would want to finish your time at the University. The position would be waiting for you afterwards."

"I am not even sure what to say." Rana shook her head. "I had hoped that an opportunity such as this, but I did not expect it to actualize."

"Think it over." Kaira suggested. "We're going to be docked here for the next week. You don't have to make the decision right now."

"I have considered this for years. I would not be so much of a fool as to turn it down." Rana insisted.

The commander raised her brow. A few years wasn't that long of a time. But T'Lan had skills that the squad needed, as well as an incredible drive. Kaira wasn't going to dissuade her too much. "So long as you're sure and willing to make the commitment."

"I am." Rana asserted. "I will have completed my time at the university in only three weeks. Then I will be able to direct my full attention to your squad."

"Well then. Welcome aboard the 517th, Rana." The Spectre nodded once and explained some of the details: "If you can make it by the Kedriana docks sometime this week, I can introduce you to the rest of the crew and get an order in for a full kit."

"Thank you, Spe – Kaira. I look forward to it."

xxxx

"So you're going to be a commando." Venia murmured, staring at her drink on the dark metal bar and spinning the glass idly as the info soaked in. "That _is_ some big news. Damn. I guess all that time you spent training paid off. I mean… I knew you were kind of pursuing it, but I didn't know you were so close."

Rana nodded, leaning on the bar with her left elbow and almost ignoring her own drink. "Not only that, but as part of a Spectre's squad – meaning even more freedom and opportunity to test out new technology!"

"I'm happy for you, Ran. Really. Hopefully I don't have to patch you up any time soon." Venia teased, referring to her move to enter the medical field upon graduation.

"I hope not as well." Rana agreed. "But at the very least we may be able to stay in contact. From the sounds of it, much of our work will be in the Terminus…"

"…and I'll be on Illium." Venia finished. "We've still got plenty of years." She paused. "So you're going to be a part of a Spectre squad, right?"

"Yes. The 517th unit." Rana noted.

"You damned overachiever." Venia joked. "But really. Congratulations. If you can avoid getting killed… you might actually be able to make a difference out there."

"I hope so." Rana shook her head. "In all likely hood, you will be able to do more."

Venia snorted with dull amusement. "Patching people up isn't all that glorious either."

The two were silent for another several seconds, inadvertently listening to the poppy music playing through the club. "Ya know," Venia began, pausing long enough to put down the last of her drink, "let's go find some trouble."

"I don't think that would be a very good idea to -"

"I mean let's go dance. That kind of thing." Venia interrupted, knowing that Rana hadn't followed. "Gotta celebrate my roomy becoming a commando somehow, right?"

"Yes, but -" Rana tried to protest. She didn't get very far.

"Come on and finish your drink! Let's go!" Venia was already on her feet, a hand on Rana's back as the young T'Lan forced down the cocktail. "Neither of us have time to be sitting around. Let's go find some dances!"

"Right… Dances." Rana noted dully, knowing that Venia had a point. The night was young and there was much to celebrate. The young T'Lan stood up and smiled: "We may as well make the most of our last weeks here."

xxxx


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8 – Down in the Dust_

_Raison Varner – Trash the Bandits/Trash the Bandits Some More_

xxxx

_Korlus, 2000 _

"Goddess dammit…" Delina bemoaned before leaping off of the tall ruin of ship wing rising from the sand unceremoniously. She landed on her feet, HK-89 still in her hands as she looked to Kaira. "They got another AA gun set up now."

"They don't want anyone getting close." Kaira shook her head, thinking the situation over. It was supposed to be a simple mission, sent directly from the Council. Come in, bust black-market profiteers who were scrapping ship parts, and get out. But it was not that simple. As it turned out, they were organized, well armed, and willing to shoot at any ships that came close, including the Akina. Hence the 517th, all three members of the drop squad, had landed several clicks away and were making their way in on foot. "Stay alert. We'll try and move in closer."

"I could just start drilling them from out here..." Delina suggested, shrugging and hoisting her rifle as an indication of her readiness.

"Not yet, Delina. We need to figure out if these guys are working for, and scaring them off or killing them will make that unnecessarily difficult."

"Fine. Have it your way."

Kaira ignored the snide comment and asked Rana, "Can you pick out any of their radio chatter?"

"Yes, Commander. They do not seem to suspect our approach, but they are making no mention of their rationale for being here." T'Lan explained.

"Alright. We'll figure that out soon enough. Let's move out… I'd rather not get caught in that sandstorm." Kaira shook her head, glancing to the east where a wall of sand was billowing. It would not be lethal if they were caught out, but it would certainly obscure vision and be an all around miserable time.

So the three took off, moving cautiously around the wreckage of an old freighter, avoiding sand traps and jagged chunks of metal. It was slow going.

"Varren, one-o-clock." Delina warned quietly after peering around a corner.

"Let's try to sneak past. I'd rather we didn't set off any alarms now."

"Your call." Delina shrugged. "They look hungry, though. Just saying."

Kaira nodded and took point, ducking under a small stone overhang and crouching along a ledge that rose from the sand, ascending a hundred meters before reaching the corpse of another ship that had crashed into the planet endwise and stayed upright like a skyscraper. Perhaps the ledge was a ruin, or the edge of another ship. Either way, it gave her a way to gain altitude and sneak past the varren. Rana followed a short distance behind, while the arms specialist taking up drag.

The varren did not notice the three commandoes sneaking by well above their head. If they were actively looking for targets, it was only on their horizontal plane. They weren't about to look up.

Kaira reached the end of the ledge, where there was a two-meter gap between the sandstone and a hole torn in the hull of the vertically balanced ship. The commander checked the gap once, then leapt.

She landed on the edge of the hull, on a section of metal that had been punched in and created a small ledge within the ship. She turned back and nodded. "Clear."

Rana hesitated for a second then made the jump. Delina seemed rather bored by as she hopped over. Kaira looked about the inside of the ship, peering through the darkness and trying to find a decent way through. There was a line of light several meters below, perhaps from another hole or a jammed door, so the Spectre dropped off again, landing on a wall three meters down and easing forward to look down what would have been a hall. It seemed like a long fall to Kaira, but she dropped anyway, biotics flaring as she neared the bottom to reduce the impact. There was still a thud as she hit and dust rose in the confines, illuminated by the shaft of light coming from the half-open portside door. The commander rose and moved towards the exit, unsure of where they would be coming out.

Rana followed Kaira's example, hoping down once and then falling the rest of the way down and using biotics to minimize the impact. She was slightly less graceful, being less adept with her biotics, but she got the job done and approached Kaira by the door.

Delina, on the other hand, was left grumbling at the top of the longer drop. Without biotics, it was an uncomfortably long drop. So she got out a grappling cable, set it best she could, and began to rappel down. Several seconds later, she dropped onto the sandy floor, wall, whatever, and reconvened with the rest of the squad.

From the cover of the partially open door, they had a clear view of the mercenaries who had set up shop two hundred meters below. Delina drew her sniper rifle again and took a glanced through the scope to assess what they were up against. Fifteen or so well-armed mercs. She recognized several different kinds of high-end battle rifles amidst the milling mercs before passing the rifle to Kaira so that commander could have a look.

Kaira peered down the scope, assessing the situation. Mercs, no doubt. All wore grey armor with a red right arm. In addition to the fifteen armored mercs – mostly Asari and Turian – there was a small group of Vorcha off to one side of the hollow, starting a fire in an old crashed hovercar. They appeared to be from the same operation, having red bands around their right arms. Details aside, there was a reason for the whole lot to be there. They were mostly focused on pulling a twin-barreled accelerator cannon from a wrecked Turian warship. A few of the mercs roamed about or worked on their AA guns. The commander shook her head and handed the rifle to Rana.

The engineer looked down the scope, slightly unsteady as she handled the unfamiliar rifle. She was still able to spot a communication beacon, however. They were not operating alone. "I do not recognize these mercenaries." Rana commented, handing the rifle back to Delina. "They bear no emblems, but they appear well equipped an organized. And there is some pattern to their armor."

The arms specialist again looked down the scope at the grey armors with red right arms, still rather unimpressed by the force of multiple races. "Eh, they don't look that professional. It's probably just some bandit clan. With really good gear."

"I agree with Rana. These aren't ordinary bandits." Kaira shook her head. "They're far too organized. Even for some of the big families, there's too much coordination. They're all wearing the same model of armor, carrying the same weapons, and they're far too focused."

"But if they were mercs, they would have some sort of emblem. I mean, that's just how mercs are." Delina argued.

"They could be privateers hired by… someone…" Rana trailed off.

"Nice specifics there, Ran." Delina quipped.

"It doesn't matter that much. We know what they've been up to. And we're here to put a stop to it." Kaira growled. "Delina. What's our range?"

"About 250 meters." The arms specialist guessed, judging the distance fairly well. Even with mass accelerator weapons, range-finding was important.

"Good. Delina, you stay up here and keep us covered. Rana, I want their comms to jam the second they catch on that we're here."

"Understood. I should be able to upload a program from here."

"Do that, and we'll sneak in closer. There are too many to take on directly, so we'll need to drop them one-by-one. You remember the moves I taught you, right?"

Rana nodded. She had a combat knife and her hands. The commander had trained her how to kill with both, the tricks for every type of opponent or species.

"Good." Kaira continued. "Delina, you wait here until I give you the signal. Then do what you do."

"Sure." Delina nodded, priming her rifle and shifting to get a better view of the mercs.

"Rana…" Kaira signaled back into the hold. They were going to have to drop down the ship if they wanted to reach the ground without a tremendous scene. They slipped back into the shadows and found a partially jammed door into a hallway that, in its current layout, served as a vertical shaft.

The commander dropped, biotic aura lighting the hallway immediately around her as she fell, finally landing with a soft thud in the sand at the bottom and moving out of the way. She ducked under a few pieces of broken frame, finally making her way to the exit. Well, it was a section of hull that had ripped back just far enough for Kaira to get through if she squeezed every last bit of air out of her lungs.

Back outside. T'Suni dropped down with her back against an abandoned shuttle and waited for Rana. The engineer did not take long to exit the wreckage and duck down into cover. There was various debris and wreckage providing cover right up to the mercenaries. That was in their favor. It wouldn't be easy to move the hundred meters by any means, but it was possible. With a glance out of cover, Kaira sprung out and snuck up behind a sandstone slab, moving forward several meters quietly and without notice. With a few hand signals she ordered Rana to take a different route straight towards the mercs. It would be easier for the young commando while Kaira flanked best she could.

And so they went. Rana was particularly cautious as she moved, making sure no more Vorcha were about before moving from crashed car to the shell of an old drive core. She was close enough that she could barely hear voices, but not make out what they were saying. The engineer minded her breath, integrating all the strategies she knew to stay light on her feet and undetected.

Kaira got within twenty meters of the outermost merc before circling to the side. She knew Rana would be slower and there wasn't a tremendous rush. She finally reached a piece of scrap metal that provided cover right to the two merc shuttles. She crept forward carefully, hearing two Turians talking quietly right next to the transport. They were quiet for a moment, and she heard one set of footsteps leading away. The one Turian was left alone, just out of sight from the rest of the group. And before he knew what hit him, Kaira had grabbed him by the face and pulled him back behind cover and drove a combat knife into the softer flesh under his fringe. After a twitch, the one mercenary was still as Kaira lowered him to the sand silently. She didn't wait for them to suspect anything before she slipped closer.

Rana had been slower as she moved up, but had finally reached one of the AA cannons. She peered around the corner cautiously, noting the Asari merc that was welding on a power junction on the cannon. The rest of the merc group was out of sight, except for one Turian who might have been tasked to keep an eye on his engineer counterpart. Instead, he was keeping an eye on the insides of his eyelids. He was laid out on the hood of a hovercar, beak slightly agape. So Rana waited until the Asari merc was mid-weld before striking out, fast and smooth, and covering the Asari's mouth with one hand and planting the other against the fringe. It was a sharp twist followed by a sickening crack. The merc engineer was instantly limp, forcing Rana to set the body down quietly before moving forward and drawing her combat knife as she approached the still slumbering Turian. It was a quick dispatch, painless for both Rana and the Turian.

But a Vorcha had caught notice, and from thirty meters away hissed loudly, "We hasss intrudersss!"

Rana flinched instinctively and tried to locate the hostile. He was standing up on a broken piece of wall, brandishing a meter-long piece of rebar as he leapt down and charged towards Rana. He closed in fast, but Rana didn't want to draw her pistol just then, didn't want to give away her position entirely even at risk of coming into close combat with the psycho Vorcha. The engineer had to duck out of the way as the melee fighter took a swing at her head as he passed by. Rana was not well prepared to fight hand-on-hand, especially not against an enemy that would simply regenerate from flesh wounds. So she sent him flying back with a biotic throw then drew her pistol, firing and landing two shots.

Another Vorcha leapt over a broken stone wall and came right at Rana. But he didn't make it before an HK89 round tore through his head. Well, stealth had been nice while it had lasted and they had taken out a few mercs before having to deal with the whole damn lot.

Kaira had already ordered Delina to go to work before the Adept opened fire herself, launching a singularity into the mass of mercs, trapping several and sending the rest stumbling before detonating the gravitational conflux and sending out a blast of sand and mass field energy that stunned the remaining adversaries.

One merc tried to make a run for the shuttles, but barely made it a meter before a sniper round took her out.

Two dropped down onto their knees, trying to activate the comms beacon. Rana's rigging worked better than expected and caused the unit to overload and stun both of its Asari operators. They would recover eventually, but it was going to take a while before they were going to be able to see or hear anything.

The remaining mercs were fast to re-organize, calling out to each other and taking up defensive positions as best they could for being bombarded with tech, biotic, sniper assaults. One finally yelled: "Somebody get that sniper off of us! She's tearing us apart!"

A Turian had already swung out of cover with a rocket launcher primed, aiming and firing in Delina's general direction before she took him out. Ah, but he had aimed well enough. The arms specialist ducked back as the rocket impacted the hull just centimeters from where she had been. The blast did not hit her directly, but it caused part of the hull to give way to gravity, collapsing and leaving her exposed.

"Shit!" Delina yelled as she scrambled to get a grappling hook set and drop to ground level. She partially succeeded. Well, she got about halfway down the shaft when another rocket impacted above her head, destroying the grappling cable and sending her plummeting.

It was only about a three meter fall, but it was rough. She crashed down, rolling onto her back and eventually getting back on her feet before realizing she was winded. Hunched over and uttering silent profanity, she pushed her way towards the hole in the hull; her only way back into the fight.

Rana realized she was about to have a tremendous problem on her hands: a pack of angry, ax-wielding Vorcha. At least six of them had targeted her as she overloaded the shields of several mercs, making them easier targets for Kaira. But she saw the Vorcha charging from thirty meters away, all six of them just rushing, scrambling and jumping over each other and every obstacle in the way.

The engineer did not want to let them get the upper hand, so she threw an incendiary grenade, ducked back into cover and switched up to her shotgun as the grenade went off. As Rana swung back out of cover, she was dismayed to see only one of the Vorcha taken out. Out of the other five, two had been temporarily slowed and hobbled forward, one was missing an arm, one was bloodied, and one was simply on fire as he rushed forward.

Rana did the best she could, knocking two back with a throw, then stopping one with a shotgun blast. She barely had time to cock the shotgun before blasting the fourth back. By then the fifth was already swinging at her, forcing the engineer to block a blow with her shotgun. Rana deflected the ax and kicked the Vorcha back, trying to load another shotgun blast as she backed up to buy time. With not a millisecond to spare, she pulled the trigger and sent the Vorcha stumbling back and falling to the ground.

Kaira was not fairing much better. She was trying to keep the mercs from organizing themselves anymore, as well as beat off a pack of Vorcha. And the adept was pushing her biotics to do so, holding a singularity in place in the midst of the mercs and sending the Vorcha flying back with a blast of excess biotics.

Delina had finally gotten back into the game, sitting back safely and taking out merc after merc with clean, one-hit kills. She counted four before her rifle overheated and she glanced up only a moment before an ax came crashing into her cover.

The arms specialist rolled away as the sole Vorcha struggled to free the ax from slab of stone. By the time he was charging again, Delina had drawn her shotgun. She fired a single shot as the melee fighter closed in, all but stopping him in his tracks as the hail of pellets tore through his upper torso. But his ax continued, just nicking Delina's arm as she swung out of the way.

By the time that altercation was done with, Delina's rifle had cooled down. And so had the fight. There was not much need for a sniper anymore, so she began to make her way into help deal with any remaining, obstinate Vorcha.

Rana and Kaira had that fairly under control, though. Kaira was able to focus on dispatching the last few capable mercs while Rana staved the Vorcha off with a combination of shotgun blasts, biotic throws, and an overload attack to stun one.

Finally the fight died down. Kaira took a moment to catch her breath and let her nerves recover. Rana made sure the two mercs that had been disabled by the exploding comms unit stayed down. And Delina finally made her way back to the squad.

"Fucking Vorcha." The arms specialist grumbled bitterly.

Kaira noted the bit of blood on the arms specialist's armor and asked quietly: "How bad did you get hit?"

"Not bad." Delina continued to grumble, pride hurting more than her arm. "I let him sneak up on me."

"So I see." The commander just shook her head and then began walking over towards Rana and the two stunned mercs. If there was any possibility of figuring out who they were working for.

One was just barely coming around, groggily looking about for a moment before realizing she was laying down and there were three commandos standing nearby. Kaira warned: "Don't do anything stupid."

"Nonono… can't… can't be captured!" The Asari merc thought aloud for a moment, looking at the three faces with alarm. And then she scrambled, drawing her pistol and getting the barrel under her chin before pulling the trigger.

Kaira lowered her hands, a reflexively raised biotic barrier slowly dissipating as she stared at the self-destructing merc with dull surprise. Before the commander could say another word, Delina had already dropped down and pinned the other mercs hands under one knee and proceeded to disarm the merc before full consciousness was regained.

Delina was just tossing the mid-grade pistol away, into the sand, when the merc came to. Delina wasted no time in niceties but instead opted to jam an elbow into the mercs throat and growl: "Listen up. Unless you want to see how long you can survive with your guts tied around a rock, tell me who the hell you're working for."

"I – I!" The merc choked, trying to talk despite the pressure on her neck. When finally given the chance, she sputtered, "I don't know - Listen! It was a private deal. It was all done over the net and through drop locations. We got armor and guns in exchange for parting ships! That's all I know! Honest to the Goddess!"

Kaira shook her head and waited for a few seconds. If any other information was coming out, it would have then. Otherwise… "Let her go, Delina."

The arms specialist begrudgingly stood up, leaving the merc to scramble out of the dust and onto her feet. And immediately in a run towards the shuttle. Delina noted the development and quickdrew her pistol, firing a single shot from the hip and nailing the fleeing merc in the middle of the back.

For several seconds after the last hired gun fell, there was an unnerving silence in the sandy depression. Finally Rana spoke, teeth tightly grit as she contained seldom-flaring anger. "That was unnecessary, Delina. She was no threat."

"So you would have let her go?" Delina growled. "Let her go back to a shuttle with who the hell knows what on board? Think she wouldn't have relayed all of this to her employer? Think he wouldn't send troops after us?"

"Are you truly so distrustful of people?" Rana rebutted and showed no signs of laying off. "It is nearly impossible that she would have sought retribution!"

"You really haven't spent enough time in the Terminus." The arms specialist shook her head. "If you don't shoot, you die. If you don't shoot first, you die. If you expect someone to forget what happened, you die. That's how life is here."

"And that's supposed to justify it all somehow?" Rana protested. "It makes it no more right – regardless of how standards are constructed here. Do you really hold yourself to the same standards as a criminal mercenary?"

"You're still such a city girl." Delina sighed, intentionally provoking her squadmate before continuing. "I'd like to think that somehow I'm more respectable, sure. But it's a matter of survival. If you try to play by the rules, you're as good as dead. Now tell me, just how respectable is that?"

"Enough. Cut it out." Kaira butted in before they could argue any more. The commander knew they would get over it, but the two commandos had nearly opposite attitudes. There was bound to be conflict. "If you can't figure it out like matrons, I don't want to hear bickering over mundane details. We all know you disagree on certain things. Accept your differences. At least for now."

Delina snorted; Rana nodded silently. Both exchanged brief, sharp glances.

"Now, let's search their shuttle before the sandstorm rolls in. Rana, I want you to hack into the nav frame on both shuttles. See if you can get any tracking coordinates. Delina, I want you to take a look at their weapons. I want a full assessment – models, mods, ammo types. I've got a feeling this isn't the last time we're going to scuffle with this group."

xxxx


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9 – Far from the Front Line_

_Denis Koyu - Rage_

xxxx

_Earth, early 2011_

"I think I can get enough speed up to clear it!" He yelled, ruffling the short brown hair with one hand before donning the black and gold motocross helmet. The seventeen year old human bounced excitedly on his snowmobile as he secured the helmet and adjusted the goggles one more time before reaching to fire the machine up. A pull-started engine. It only took one pull for the 600cc engine to rumble to life, louder than most machines due to the numerous modifications.

It had already been a long day in the Colorado mountains. Despite being only 16:00 hours, the sun was already down, the narrow valley well engulfed by shadow and temperatures were dropping for the night. So it went in the very beginning of January.

They had been riding all day, since the sun had cleared the peaks to the east. Countless kilometers had been logged, as well as numerous sketchy spots where either part or all of the team had been stuck while blazing trails through waist-deep snow. Even on snowmobiles, travel was a challenge. Yet that challenge was _fun_ to them.

There were only two of them; the boy and his father. The elder sat back and watched, not without worry, as the younger took off again and rambunctiously made his way across a ravine and up a hillside. Perhaps with fifty-two years experience came some wisdom – or at the very least a willingness to steer clear from incredibly dangerous, high-consequence stunts that would break someone regardless of whether or not they pulled it off.

The younger had not reached that point. He still had something to prove, to the world, and to himself. He still had to see how far he could go before the breaking point was reached.

So the kid in an all-black snow jacket and pants was just starting to turn around far up the hill. He paused there, looking down and scoping out the line one last time. For several seconds the black snowmobile with the white hood idled down. Then the decision was made. He pinned back the throttle, engine screaming back to its full velocity and he began charging down the hill.

This was Forrest Jackson in his element. Rushing towards a pile of rocks covered in two meters of snow with the intention to defy gravity long enough to clear a deep ravine and land on another, smaller hill 45 meters away.

Adrenaline had already kicked in for Jackson, and all he saw was the in-run to the natural terrain jump. Everything else was gone. Every thought was shut off. Even his vision narrowed and left room only for the essentials.

He hit the curvature of the first pile of snow, powder blasting out of the way. Suspension compressed before leaving the ground.

It was then, the very moment that the snowmobile left the ground, that Forrest knew that he had made a terrible miscalculation. The hill where he had intended to land fell away, far below the temporarily airborne man. He tucked in, able to do nothing as milliseconds passed and it became increasingly clear that he had overshot the entire jump.

Feet scrambled against aluminum running boards and he braced himself as the short target landing disappeared. Flat ground was coming in. Impact. Every last instinct told him that he was fucked, yet he held on tighter than ever.

Then the snowmobile slammed back into the ground, into the flat where nobody in their right mind would attempt to land. Forrest's knees buckled from the force, his hands slipped on the handlebars, and his head smashed forward.

By the time the stars cleared, Jackson was sitting on his snowmobile, rolling forward slowly out of the crater left in the snow. His grip was limp on the bars. He shook his head. The numb of adrenaline faded away. A trickle of blood came down from his nose, the taste of blood strong in his mouth.

"Oww…" Forrest bemoaned as he sat there. Disgruntled, hurting. He unclipped the helmet and dabbed at his bleeding nose with his glove. He couldn't tell if it was broken or not. It felt like it was.

"You alright?" The elder Jackson called out from twenty meters away.

"I think so." The younger shook his head, shutting off the snowmobile engine and digging through his pack before digging an old bandana out of his pack.

"Your back ok?"

"Yeah." Forrest replied, flexing his spine to make sure. "Didn't get it this time."

His face had taken the worst of the impact. Even the full-face helmet couldn't deflect the entire impact. It might have been the helmet, not the handlebars, that smacked back into his nose.

"Alright, well…" The kid with the broken nose said as he pressed the bandana against his bleeding face. "Let's just get home."

xxxx

The nano-sized robots carried on with their work, trickling along organic nerves.

The activation signal had been received.

The nanocells had two tasks for the time being. First, integration. The microscopic technology had only manifested itself in core pathways. The spinal cord, critical nerves. The nanocells were programmed to spread out, integrate into the organic structure, and ultimately convert the entire process into a synthetic reproduction that mimicked the original so closely that even the most precise medical scanners would be fooled.

Secondly, the nanocells distributed element zero in long paths, integrating it into the nerve structure and imbedded synthetic cells. With power provided by the host, the eezo strands could provide limited biotic abilities.

The element zero also allowed an essential architecture for establishing an uplink. While nanocells controlled the input and output signals, they were not sufficiently durable to conduct the sheer power provided by remote conduit coils.

The process had not been easy. Each nanocell had to be created individually. Designed and programmed. Set to interact seamlessly with other synthetic cells. There was likely a reason that such a project had never been undertaken before.

A reason why cruder methods had been employed.

A reason why a standalone Reaper Sentinel had never been created.

xxxx

He watched, waiting in the darkness, perfectly still and blended into the dust of space.

Watching the galaxy unfold. The new cycle was unlike those in the past. It was not dominated by a single race or government. No, the three major races had begun to work together. It was not perfect – nothing pertaining to organics was. Nonetheless it was a strange twist.

One major race had not yet joined the galactic community. He had focused there, attempting to subtly introduce a larger community view to the planet-confined race. There was no telling how well it had worked, but every simulation suggested that they would integrate sooner or later. Once they managed space flight.

Simulations and calculations formed a synthetic imagination. The sole Reaper took every bit of information he could find, fit it together, and tried to predict the outcome of the cycle. It was difficult to tell anything past the noise. There was far too much useless data; there were too many unknowns. He could only imagine the outcome of contact between the major races as he waited.

Waiting for headway to be made. The nanocells implanted in subject seven had been activated, but until they had completely integrated there was no way for him to see their progress. He was blind for a time.

Azarith did not worry whether or not the nanocells would work or not. They _would_ work. The only concern was damage to the host. Avoiding neurological damage was the whole reason why he avoided simple indoctrination and cybernetic implantation in the first place. The synthetic cellular network was supposed to preserve the organic functions. Organics were tricky, though. Things didn't always work as they were supposed to.

The Sentinel… Azarith knew the very basis of the project was risky. Due to scale and energy availability, the nanocell network would only be able to run a few processes. While it would be a standalone unit, it would never compare to a Reaper. The Sentinel was a simple creation that could serve its purpose, but never could it replace the processors that housed billions of tasks that formed each Reaper mind and the complexities stored within that coding.

There was still the matter of placing the Sentinel. It did little good to leave the protector on a secluded homeworld while larger threats lurked in the Terminus (or so the organics of the cycle had taken to calling the space far from the Citadel).

To curb progress of other races, husks had been created. It was more a scare tactic than anything else. In small numbers, they were more of a nuisance then a threat. They carried out their purpose, though, keeping research teams far away from key artifacts and data caches. Husks were a primitive means of manipulation, one that the Reaper disliked. He knew he was destroying the very thing he set to protect.

The Humans would find the Mars cache in due time. Azarith's calculations showed that introducing space-travel technology before then would end disastrously.

Relay 258 would remain open for some time. There was a possibility of luring another race in, only a select squad, to happen upon the Sentinel. It was extremely risky to leave so much up to chance, but Azarith noted that high risks often drew organics together. A strange behavior.

One squad had caught Azarith's attention two years prior. A squad of Asari commandos. The leader didn't always operate in accordance with standard protocol and usually worked on the outskirts of the space discovered by the inhabitants of the current cycle. There were only three combatants; a fourth would make an ideal squad (the Reaper's calculations showed that a squad of four organics was the most effective size). They were organics and they had their oddities, but they appeared willing to take on risks.

Azarith had planted the area coordinates to Relay 258 aboard the Asari vessel, and the launch vectors in the relay. Even the most experienced organic programmers would not be able to trace the information; it would appear as though it had been entered by the organics themselves.

The Reaper's plan worked. Shortly after discovering the coordinates, the Asari set a course for the sector of unexplored space, found the relay and the launch vectors, and set out.

Well, there was one contingency. One of the Asari aboard the ship sent the relay coordinates to an address nestled far back in the Terminus, muddled by obscurity and 'advanced' encryption. Azarith was able to track the message; he had not a location but a name.

The Contractor.

xxxx

Forrest Jackson leaned back on the wood bench, getting his spine to pop in several places before he looked up at the clear night sky. After staring into a campfire burnt down into the snow, it took his eyes several seconds to adjust to the blackness and begin to make out the dull flicker of faraway stars.

The young man stared for a complete minute. The campfire began to die down, and so he lowered his attention and threw a few more pieces of wood in. It was a cold night, even huddled against the fire. Everyone else – only his parents and the family dog – had retired for the night, retreated to the cabin a few hundred meters away.

So there Jackson was, sitting alone, cold weather gear on, gloved hands folded in his lap as he exhaled towards the sky. Campfire light illuminated the plume of spent air as it rose skyward and dissipated.

He chuckled. There was something about space that had always intrigued him. The kid couldn't quite figure it out. A need to explore, to pioneer? It had always been there. As long as Forrest could remember, he had looked skyward with the hope of someday surpassing the limits of Earth's gravity. As his knowledge increased, so did the possible boundaries. He'd always dreamed about that kind of thing, been fueled by other's dreams. For countless years it had been Star Wars. When that faded away, or rather when he had memorized each of the movies, he moved on to the next endeavor, the next view, hoping to gain some insight or see an opportunity to launch outward.

Forrest looked back to the fire and rubbed his hands together idly. Space was only a dream for him, limited by his own connections and abilities as well as the technology available. So he made do, figuring out other ways to fulfill the need to pioneer. It was early January; in a few months he could apply for a job in Antarctica for several months. He had contacts there, a potential 'in.' _About as close to space as I can get…_ he thought, envisioning the perpetually cold and hostile environment where life was confined to structures. Either that or go off to university right away. He still wasn't sure.

The campfire continued to burn and cast its amber light on a small radius of snow. The only draw to present. As he stared into the fire, Forrest thought back to the ride earlier that day. It had been a good one, injuries aside. Nearly 90 kilometers logged, which was a decent ride for the Colorado backcountry. There had been some pretty good jumps, one cliff drop that he had been scoping out for a while. He had made it out in one piece, and so had his snowmobile. All things considered, it had gone well.

His nose, while glued up and no longer bleeding, still hurt from the crash.

xxxx


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10 – Under Darker Skies_

_The Heavy – Long Way From Home_

xxxx

_Outer Council Space, early 2013_

The AMF Damascuswas dead still inside as it coasted between relay jumps on the way to Thessia. The Damascus was a retrofitted, ex-Contractor frigate, a remnant from the fleet that had been stored on Hyetiana – the Contractor base. The 517th unit had taken it in the rush to the Citadel, but chose to utilize it as a replacement for the destroyed Akina. With a Crimson Cavalry pilot, the Damascus was a fully functioning Asari ship. The IMF had been reflashed, changing its designation from CRF (Contractor Recon Frigate) to AMF (Asari Military Frigate), but other than that it remained intact. Too little time had passed since the Contractor onslaught for it to be upgraded or ridded of its grey and red color scheme.

It was one of nearly thirty frigates had been repurposed after the Hyetiana assault. Five went to the Crimson Cavalry, doubling the strength of Ryala T'Deras' mercenary group. The other ships had been brought back to various homeworlds, namely Thessia and Palaven, and integrated into military forces in the attempt to bolster damaged fleets.

While the Contractor network had been destroyed, the galaxy was still in shambles. Rogue, ex-Contractor groups milled about and raised hell. Nearly every homeworld and colony had taken damage and casualties. The Citadel… well, most parts of the wards were still closed and under repair.

War. It been nothing short of an all-out galactic war that nobody had prepared for or expected. Well, nobody but the 517th and a select few. Many mobilized military units had been crushed out in the initial onslaught. The Contractor army had faced little resistance as it drove into Council space. The offensive was unexpected, and not a single race was prepared to wage such widespread war.

With the Contractor taken out, then central structure of his army collapsed. There was a lapse in the assault, giving the galaxy just enough time to strike back. And by then, chaos had run its course through the Contractor ranks. It was only a shell of its former strength, easy to cut through and slowly the allied races turned the tide.

But while the war might have nearing an end, the damages only became more evident. The Contractor had left a trail of blood and lies, striking fear into his opponents even after death. It was a grim reminder to many that they were not invincible, and thinking so nearly cost everything. The Council had been leveled, only one member remaining after two betrayals.

The Turian Councilor had held his position, refusing to step down until the galaxy was back on the right track.

The Asari enclave had temporarily elected a representative to serve in on the Council until the situation stabilized and they had the opportunity to properly go through the process of electing a councilor. The Salarians had quickly decided upon a new council member.

But people's trust in the Council as a whole was shattered. How could they be trusted when they let a paramilitary force develop unchecked? Many people were angry. Lives had been lost. Some felt that the Council did not fulfill their responsibility. So the three races had to overcome those grievances as they worked in close conjunction. The Great Rebuild had begun, starting on homeworlds and moving out to colonies in an attempt to repair the toils of war and safeguard remaining resources. One of the pivotal forces was a fleet of ships tasked to run supplies and intel between worlds.

The vanguard of the Great Rebuild fleet was the AMF Damascus.

xxxx

Kaira leaned forward on one command console of the Damascus, looking over the inventory list for their current run. They were lucky to have a fast ship, allowing them to relay information and basic supplies faster than anyone else. This time, according to the holographic list, they were carrying power cores to get more frigates up and running on Thessia.

They still had to deal with ex-Contractors here and there, but the massive army had been reduced to roaming bands of bandits. It was only a matter of time until they were tracked down and destroyed. They were, however, in the interim, a massive pain in the fringe.

The 517th had taken out a few strongholds in order to open up shipping lanes. But really, their main focus was repairing the damages. Chasing down bandits could wait.

Well, the new Council had been repairing damages as well. Kaira had been reinstated as a Spectre. No strings attached, she had her full status returned. The Turian Councilor knew well enough that the Kaira and the 517th were the only reason the galaxy hadn't been plunged into complete darkness. The new councilors could also recognize that. They were new, fresh and terrified by what the Contractor could have done.

The Council applauded her, in fact. Said that victory had been won because of T'Suni. The commander heard the same thing from people all over. Victory, they claimed.

_What victory?_ Kaira thought to herself and looked away from the shipping list. _We've gained nothing and only lost._

The 517th had taken a beating. Several of the maintenance crew had gone down with the _Akina_. Evitha T'Vanalia, the ship's captain, had been killed on impact.

And then Jackson. He had spaced himself on the Citadel. Rana had seen the whole thing happen, claimed that he did so to take out a Reaper drone. Kaira knew there had to be more to it. Perhaps the war had finally gotten to him. Perhaps he blamed himself for the Contractor onslaught. Perhaps he couldn't bear the fact that he abandoned his squad. All Kaira could do was speculate and she doubted she was going to get closure.

No, she had failed.

Failed to keep her squad alive. Time and time again. First Syaena, then Evitha, then Forrest. All of them had trusted her whole-heartedly, and her decisions ultimately got them killed. Some commander she was.

The 517th was even more broken then when they lost Syaena. For once, when it was the four of them, the unit was capable, balanced, complete. But with Jackson gone it was entirely different.

Delina had become even more bitter and cynical than when she joined the 517th. That was, when she spoke at all. Most times she steeped in an all-encompassing, undirected anger. Well, it was more directed at the Council. Still. The arms specialist had said several times that they were responsible for the countless deaths including Jackson's. She blamed them for that, too. While the arms specialist never said it directly, Kaira knew that Delina blamed her for not doing more to sway the Council or homeworlds during the war.

What more could she have done, though? Kaira stared at the bleak grey wall, trying to figure out where she had gone wrong. She had beat her head bloody trying to convince the Council to help. And on any homeworld, she was just a commando. Just a grunt in their eyes.

Then there was Rana. Poor Rana. It nearly broken Kaira's heart to see what the young commando had become. Gone was the light-hearted engineer with a field of innocence and curiosity about her. Rana had retreated to the lower deck of the ship both physically and emotionally. She didn't say a word, didn't come out except for food or missions. Kaira hadn't seen her shed a single tear or utter a single word about Jackson. The poor maiden was internalizing everything.

Kaira had tried to break through the façade several times with no success. She was hesitant to try more – the last thing she wanted was for Rana to resent her even more. To retreat even further. It was already impossible to get the engineer to talk.

'What is done is done.' She would reply. Every time Kaira inquired to the Citadel incidents or the maiden's general mindset. The same answer, a cover every time. Rana was not done with any of it – she had a picture of Jackson right above her workbench, for goddess's sake.

Kaira had her share of loss, too. When the going had got truly tough, Tahre, her bondmate of twenty years, had up and left without a word. Kaira didn't know where he had gone, or even if he had survived. She didn't care anymore. Too many years of faking a relationship just to keep a professional edge left bitter resentment towards the Turian.

The commander moved her gaze away from the wall, feeling an incredible despair. She hadn't told the squad her plans yet. Once they had seen the current stage of the Great Rebuild through, she was going to throw in the towel.

Kaira T'Suni was going to resign as a commando.

She was going to disband the 517th.

It was one of the worst decisions she had faced in four hundred years. She wished that she didn't have to take such an extreme course, but she realized that she had to accept it.

She would never be able to be a leader. Not as long as was responsible for getting her squad killed. She couldn't do it to them. She couldn't knowingly violate their trust. And she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't bear the death, the destruction, the violations of trust.

The commander's fists clenched against the edge of the metal console. Seldom prone to outbursts, she fought back the urge to drive her fist through the holoprojector.

xxxx

Delina stood in front of a disassembled HF1 needle driver in a cramped corner of the Damascus cargo bay. The fucking ship didn't even have a dedicated armory. She had to work on a makeshift bench, all of the parts she needed strewn about in various boxes.

And that was why she had stopped working. She needed a new high-frequency isolator for the needle driver (it tore through them every few missions), but she didn't have one on hand. It wasn't something she could manufacture on the ship, and elsewhere was too backed up. It would take months to get one simple fucking part.

Normally, she wouldn't have been so bent out of shape over a little part. But at that point, it was the final straw.

Since the Citadel attack, an unavoidable rage had begun to burn inside. Everything fueled the desire for violence. It had alarmed Delina at first, but then it enveloped her. She didn't care why she felt that way. She just wanted a release. Enemies to shoot. Skulls to smash.

She knew why she started to feel that way.

It had started on Hyetiana, when she figured out that Jackson had split. She had felt something off in her gut the entire mission, but chose to ignore it. From the time he had come back with cybernetic eyes, something had been off. In the end, it bit both of them in the ass. She blamed the human for bailing like he did, and herself for ignoring her instincts. Delina snarled as she thought back; she should have confronted him rather than let things go to hell. The one time she didn't listen to her intuition.

Then the Citadel. Kaira and her had stayed in the docks, fending off Contractors while Rana went to track down Jackson. Then Rana had come back a shell of herself. Said Jackson spaced himself with a Reaper drone.

Delina wished he was still alive so he could see what he had done to Rana and the squad. And then she would kill him again.

And then there was Kaira, suddenly all depressed and self-pitying. Why the fuck did she have to be the martyr, the one 'responsible' for the deaths of Evitha and Forrest? The same damn thing happened after Syaena was killed, and it pissed Delina off just as much then.

Hell, the whole squad was responsible. Kaira might have been the commander, but they were one unit. They were all bound to their actions and subsequently responsible. Shit happened.

On top of that, the commander had a fresh fucking start. A new ship, reinstated Spectre status. And she was just going to throw it away.

It made Delina furious.

And Rana… Delina wasn't exactly mad _at_ the younger Asari, but mad _for_ her. She had gone from a warm, quiet maiden to a shell that carried out its tasks. Rana was devastated, and Delina knew exactly why.

The engineer had a broken heart. She was letting it destroy her from the inside out.

But hell, Delina knew how exactly that felt. She had been in the same uniform thirty-eight years earlier when Evia died. Delina knew how it felt to have her world crushed from the lowest, most intimate level. She knew what it was like to see dead the one person that meant more than the entire fucking galaxy. It had been worse with Evia; Delina had held her lifeless mate and realized there was one person to blame entirely.

Still, seeing Rana having to endure that… Goddess, it made Delina even angrier.

She couldn't take it much longer. It would have been one thing if they were going at the same rate as before the Contractor invasion, finding fights and hunting people down. But no, the 517th was tasked to be some transport shuttle. Delina had no release, no way to purge the violence from her mind. So it stayed there and began to fester.

She knew she had a responsibility to the squad. Hell, it was one of the few things that she was loyal to. But if she couldn't keep her own sanity, what was the point?

One last run, she had told herself time and time again. She would get back into the Terminus and say her goodbyes to Rana and Kaira. Then she would do what she really wanted to – get retribution. The remaining Contractor forces would do. Since Hyetiana, she was unfettered. She wasn't going to hold back her biotics anymore. She would have a full arsenal to bring death and destruction to anyone who stood in her way.

Then, maybe then, she would be able to find some peace.

xxxx

A small, side room on the second deck had been dedicated to engineering. It was cramped and underequipped, but it would have been enough to work.

Rana found that she could not work. Instead, she sat on one of the work tables and stared blankly at their three sets of hard armor laid out for repairs.

There was something symbolic about the grey metal armor. When the three Asari had donned the heavier protection, it was like… like they had stopped being commandos. The thin line between thug and enforcer was nearly wiped away in Rana's mind. Everything she had sought in becoming a commando was gone; replaced just like the traditional brown leathers.

Were they really just soldiers now? Perhaps that was all they had ever been. Rana tried to be honest with herself, see through any delusions. The 517th _had_ been something different before the Contractor war began.

Yes, they had won, but at what cost?

Attitudes had changed.

All three members of the squad were different after the Citadel assault. Certainly not for the better, either. They barely spoke to each other anymore and when they did it was tense, laced with blame.

Motives had shifted.

No longer was the 517th held together by a common goal of bettering the galaxy, of staying together because of inextricable loyalties. Now the 517th was only a vessel for survival, clung to for fear of falling into the abyss.

Lives... Lives had been lost.

Evitha, the 517th's very own pilot had been impaled when the Akina was shot down.

The Crimson Cavalry had been nearly devastated on Hyetiana.

Tyva T'Deras, Ryala's last sister, had plunged from a coma straight into death.

And then there was Forrest. That death stung the most for Rana. There was little she could say to explain her attachment. The young commando glanced over to a small, picture she printed from an omni-tool image. The black-and-white image was from the Citadel, only a night before the Council betrayed their squad.

It was a simple self-taken holo of the couple standing on a Presidium balcony, the wards slightly out of focus behind them.

Rana knew she was still attached, still involved. Looking at the image only reminded her of the good, if not short, time they had together. Reminded her of the empty feeling that had plagued her since Forrest was spaced.

She knew the feeling was wrong. It wasn't how an Asari was supposed to act. She was supposed to appreciate the time they had together and move on. That was what culture, her peers, and everyone else said to do.

But she didn't want to move on. She wanted to feel, even if all she was able to feel right then was hurt and empty. Was it really so bad to acknowledge her attachments? Rana shook her head slowly and then wiped away a tear.

It wasn't over.

She reminded herself of that. Everyone seemed to have forgotten what Jackson fought against and ultimately fell to. If the Reapers were real, than Rana knew there were problems far greater than her own.

Rana knew that she should have held more of a grievance against the late Forrest Jackson. He had abandoned the squad halfway through a mission, and when they were finally able to track him down he nearly killed her. Yet at the same time, he didn't. Rana remembered as he tried to explain. He sounded broken, especially so as the one Reaper was destroyed above their heads. Then they had faced a Reaper Drone. Rana didn't understand what had lead Forrest to take out the Drone as well as himself. Perhaps he wanted to keep her safe.

If that was the case, he had succeeded. She left with her life. The young maiden also left with a heart shattered from seeing her lover spaced.

The young commando looked down and weaved her hands together in her lap. She would only be able to stay with the 517th for a little while longer. There were many things that Kaira and Delina did not need to know.

She didn't know what she was going to do, or where she was going to go.

Rana was certain of one thing: she would keep fighting.

xxxx


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter 11 – Troubled Waters_

_Röyksopp - Happy Up Here (Boys Noize Remix)_

xxxx

_Omega, 2014_

Omega was quiet, streets mostly empty in the early station hours. The signs of the Contractor War were starting to fade in the heart of the Terminus.

Unlike elsewhere, Omega had prepared for the assault. A coalition of mercs, bandits, and criminals had come together under the Warlord's command and held their ground. Even when they were fully organized, the Contractor forces could not retake the station. Once the Contractor himself had fallen, the grey and red ground troops didn't stand a chance.

Still, there were damages. Nothing was quiet the same. The raucous fervor was gone. The population of the station had declined considerably, and then was upped by refugees from outer Council space.

And at the end of the day, it was still Omega. Still brutal, violent and short for all but the strongest. In the place of several merc groups, there were well-organized bandits. And they were far less selective in their raids, far less willing to play by the unspoken codes that had occasionally been recognized about the station.

And then there were the rebranded Contractor goons. They would have fit in, had they not gone straight to causing trouble and trying to organize revolts against Charrac's rule.

It was even more lawless than before.

It was perfect for someone who wanted to enforce a violent station with more violence.

Delina strode along the less crowded side of the street, a drab brown cloak covering her leather commando uniform, a hood coming well over her head and casting her face in shadow. She did not need to draw attention to herself. The rifles on her back, quite visible because of the way the cloak draped over them, already brought her enough attention. Most people would have tried to shoot her on the spot if they knew she had been a commando – and was still harassing the living fuck out of lawless bandits.

But Delina was beginning to grow tired of the crusade she was leading alone. When she had come to Omega, she needed to fight. She had been pent up on the Akina for too long. When she landed on the Terminus station, she had gone right to work and began devastating bandit clans that were up to no good. But months passed. The initial drive slowly evaporated. She could only do so much damage on her own, and even then… she had incurred the wrath of about every merc on Omega.

It wasn't like before, either. The galaxy was so different from when she had run around as a lawless punk before. It was far more grim, there were more consequences. There was better communication and alignment between groups. She couldn't cause trouble in one sector and simply move to another to avoid it. Without the cloak, she was Delina T'Kasan. And people wanted her dead.

Then again… Delina wasn't the same either. She hated to admit it, but the 517th had changed her. She wasn't just a punk looking for a fight, scrounging food and doing drugs. She had felt what it was like to fight for something bigger, to be a part of a larger cause and, well, she couldn't go back to her old ways. Not entirely.

So she was stuck, unable to fall back to her old life but unable to get ahead.

The ex-commando kicked an empty ryncol bottle out of her way as she walked. She wasn't sure what was worth fighting for, really. The Contractor had been a good enemy, but everything else just seemed trivial.

"Hey! You there!" A Turian yelled from across the walkway.

Delina glanced over without turning her head or looking up. She didn't recognize the punk, nor his four Turian companions. They were bandits no doubt. They were looking for a fight and staring right at her. Delina didn't care that she was outnumbered. She was more concerned about causing a stir. It would be like dropping meat into a varren cage. Even the people walking by, seemingly harmless, would jump in when someone was down. She had seen it before and wanted to avoid the bloodbath, so she just kept walking.

"Oye! Don't walk away – I was talking to you!"

Delina kept walking.

Right up until a pistol round dug into her barrier. Then she stopped. Her fists slowly clenched out of the bandits' sight and she stood there with her back still turned. She began quietly, lacing the anger into her voice. "This is why the galaxy can't get back up on its feet. Even two years after the war, we're still forced to grovel in a ruined galaxy because of sniveling cunts like you. You wouldn't know right from wrong if your life depended on it. So you come here, patrol around and pick fights. You win one or two and then you're pretty hot shit."

"Don't try to run now…" The Turian warned. He didn't seem to take the hint.

"You made one too many bad decisions." Delina growled and cracked her neck as she turned and faced the five bandits. All of them seemed sure of themselves, but hell. They had civilian weapons and raggy armor. The arms specialist snorted. "And this time you woke up the wrong varren."

The former commando dropped to a knee, biotics flaring as she unleashed a shockwave that sent all five thugs flying back in a shower of detonating dark energy and rocks stripped from the street. In a split second, Delina was the only one left in the fight, standing as her opponents scrambled to get back on their feet, yelling at each other and drawing their weapons. They still wanted to fight, even after getting owned right out of the gate.

Delina waited until all five were back on their feet, noting the crowd forming around the fight. It was a bad sign of things to come. The arms specialist waited until all five punks were back on their feet and lined up before she quickly drew a RR12 pistol from her hip and fired five shots in the matter of a second.

Five Turian bandits slumped to the ground. Dead.

Delina stood there for several seconds, the revolver still smoking in her gloved hand, a leather-covered arm exposed.

There was silence.

Then someone, another Asari, yelled out: "It's the commando! Get her!"

The chorus of approval was alarming. Delina backed away, holstered her pistol, and growled a single warning: "Back off, or this will end badly for you."

Alas, nobody seemed to pay attention. She was just one specialist against an entire fucking mob. There was no sense in trying to hide anymore; they knew who she was. So Delina undid the cloak and let it fall to the ground behind her, lightening her load and exposing a commando uniform loaded down with various unique weapons – well, most of them had been scrounged from the Contractor's armory.

An HF1 needle driver, a Geryon battle rifle, a 54H shotgun, and two RR12 revolvers. All of them had been modded, hopped up. The arms specialist had even incorporated special bracing into her armor so that the two RR12s would not break her wrists.

So there she stood, one Asari against a whole slew of bandits. Delina waited, hands hovering over the twin RR12s holstered on her hips. The show of her weapons had made many of her opponents think twice. The mob thinned, but she was still left with a goddamn mess on her hands.

Delina struck first, whipping both revolvers out and firing them simultaneously. The Asari that had first recognized the commando was knocked back by the two heavy shavings to the chest.

And so the onslaught began. Delina stood her ground and paced herself, firing her left revolver, then the right, aiming carefully to take her attackers out. Instinctively she buffered herself with a barrier, soaking up some of the shavings flying around haphazardly. Right, left, right, left. The RR12s barked in quick succession, and for the most part, bandit shields and armor were little match.

They were starting to flank her. Delina realized that before it was too late, and she was hit by a nagging thought. More of a flashback from 22 years prior.

Zavalon.

Taking on a whole fucking merc force single-handedly. Similar odds to the present. On the Zacharov colony she had nearly died. Four liters of blood lost and practically no pulse when she was loaded onto the Akina. The only reason she had lived was Kaira T'Suni and the 517th. But now…

They were gone. She was on her own.

Delina shook off the unnerving thought and kept firing. But she knew she was going to have to be smart if she wanted to make it out alive. It was all on her.

The bandits were starting to close in, their noose of numbers cinching down around Delina. They were almost too close for guns, fists swinging and punks stumbling over bodies. Finally, the broke through. Finally, they were going to overrun her.

Well, that was before the commando detonated her barrier and sent out a pulse of biotic energy that tore through the armor of the closest mercs and sent the further ones flying. It gave her a moment to pause, assess the situation. The mob had just grown. By then, news of the fight had traveled halfway across the station and people were pouring in to loot the dead or maybe get in on the action.

There had to be at least a hundred bandits in the narrow street. Delina glanced around for a distraction, for an exit. As her opponents began to rise and get on their feet, she made a break for it – skirting along a wall, leaping up and catching the bottom of a sign to swing over a charging Krogan, landing back on her feet, charging her biotics and launching a nearby dumpster back towards the mob and bowling quite a few people over as she gained distance from the mob.

Well, until she saw the approaching swarm. Just as many mercs and bandits and pirates as she was leaving behind. Effectively trapped, she was running out of options and time. Before she was smashed by another Krogan, she dove to the side, crashing into a dark abandoned apartment with dust and glass coming down around her about as she rolled back onto her feet and broke into a run, crashing through a back door and distancing herself from the mob. She holstered both revolvers as she ran and did not look back.

It had been a narrow passageway, necking the thugs down until they began to squabble and fight amongst themselves and temporarily forget about Delina.

Good.

She took the opportunity to get the hell out of there, not breaking from a run as she went down one back alley, then began scaling a three-story building, using a pipe to scramble up on to the roof. She could hear the mob slowly making its way after her, so she broke into a run again. Still under an overhang, a slab of rock extended horizontally three meters above her head, creating a roof and providing protection from gunships. She could focus on running.

She leapt, for a split second she glancing down into the dark alleyway below as she cleared the gap between buildings, landed, absorbed the impact without rolling, and kept going. She could see there was a busy transport street about a hundred meters ahead. If she could make it that far, then she might be able to drop onto a truck and make her escape.

After vaulting over a large pipe that crossed the roofline, Delina glanced back. The bandit mob was starting up onto the roof behind her. She grimaced. Pushed off again. The commando began to sprint towards the end of the roof, then upon reaching the blind edge, realize that it was not a clean drop into traffic.

There was first a slanted metal roof, then bundles of cables that ran in various directions. She hesitated for just a moment, long enough to scope out a line and a truck to land in, and then dropped off of the roof. She landed on the slanted metal, dropping into a slide and picking up speed before reaching the edge and pushing off.

The Asari just barely managed to slip through the cables, biotics activating to soften the fall before she slammed into the back of a cargo truck carrying bags of trash. It was not a glorious or pleasant landing, but she was unharmed. And the driver did not seem to notice.

Delina took a deep breath, gagging as she got a full blast of the truck's stench, then looked back up to the roof. The bandits had not reached the edge by the time the truck pulled around the corner.

She shook her head.

That had blown up into one hell of an ordeal. At that rate, she wouldn't be able to stay on Omega much longer. She wasn't sure if she wanted to, either. It was pointless any more.

Try to bring some light into a darkened room, and the inhabitants only wanted to extinguish it.

So there she was, laying back amongst bags of trash, thinking of where she would go next and how.

And then her omni-tool pinged. A single message, sent from a trusted contact.

Delina lazily opened up the haptic interface and found the message. She stared at the name for a good several seconds before it sunk in:

_Ryala T'Deras._

The Crimson Cavalry leader. Hell, Delina hadn't heard a word from the vanguard since the Contractor assault on Hyetiana two years prior. It was strange to think back and remember the name, the face. The thought was almost welcome – at the very least, it was a change from the hostile faces that surrounded her on Omega. Delina continued reading the message.

"_Delina – I got wind that you were on Omega. I know a lot has changed, but I've got a job I could use your help on. If you're interested, meet me in the A-level docks at 22:00 station time."_

The arms specialist closed her omni-tool, leaned back and thought. It would be a good chance to get out of the hellhole that Omega was becoming. And Ryala had always seemed decent enough to work with.

xxxx

Delina was cautious as she made her way across the plaza, noting the bustle around the Warlord's enclave. Nobody had noticed her. Everyone was too busy with their own work to be bothered by the one Asari. Plus, laying low for a few hours gave the bandit groups enough time to forget about the commando and go back to their infighting.

The A-level plaza was still missing a few large sections from Contractor bombings. People had worked on repairs from time to time, but usually they were shot down or robbed before they had gotten very far. Still, Charrac's rule was stronger than ever. His island-like stronghold was a hub for the station, its metaphorical heart. Every important deal went there. Every merc that wanted a job went there. If you went to Omega and simply looked at the enclave, you might be inclined to think that the situation wasn't too grim.

However, Delina knew all too well that was hardly the case. It was even more of a fucking disaster than before. She was grateful not to be shot at as she made her way towards the docks, even brushing by a few former Tirade mercs. They either didn't recognize her or didn't want to take her on and shot her nothing more than a neutral glance. Delina did the same.

The docks were crowded. People moving off of ships, pushing and carrying crates of various supplies. Delina made her way through the bustle, looking for a Crimson Cavalry frigate. She passed by what appeared to be a ship coming directly from Illium. Crates of spanking new weapons were being offloaded, a group of crossfire mercs standing guard and watching Delina skeptically. The commando sorts were few and far between on Omega.

"T'Kasan!" A Turian yelled from a ways down the dock. "Hey Delina!"

The arms specialist barely looked up, not wanting to create a stir, but saw the Turian waving from about 20 meters away. Crimson Cavalry armor. She didn't recognize the bird. He looked and acted young, too. Delina shook her head subtly and headed that way, pushing her way through the crowd.

When she got closer, the Turian merc made an effort to take a step forward and salute her. "Delina T'Kasan, right?"

She nodded.

"I thought I recognized you. I'm Tivesh Syndir. I served as support on Hyetiana, and I gotta say it's an honor to finally meet you."

Delina remained silent watched the bird for several seconds, fighting off the urge to make a snarky blunt comment. It would have been easy, too. But maybe it was the friendly face that drove her to be a little less hostile than normal. "Tivesh, huh? I see you've gone from support to full position now."

"Well, I'm trying -" He began, only to cut himself off. "But I'm still just a grunt. Sounds like you've been taking a lot of heat here. Are you really just working alone?"

"Yeah." Delina nodded and added bitterly "I wouldn't recommend it."

"How come?" The Turian asked energetically. "I mean, Spirits. You're out here waging war by yourself! That's incredible. I'm pretty sure half our troop would settle for being half as badass as you are!"

Delina shook her head. "It's not as glorious as it sounds. Today was a good day. I only got attacked by one mob and I got away by jumping into a trash truck."

"That… that sounds incredible!" Tivesh seemed to be only more impressed by what Delina thought was an awful way to live.

"Get a few more years experience under your armor," Delina suggested, "You'll look at things differently."

"Maybe, but…" He protested, then remembered why he was there. "I guess you're here to see the Captain? She said you'd be along. Come aboard the Titanus!"

"Took ya long enough…" Delina rolled her eyes and followed the Cavalry Turian.

He was hardly discouraged as they made their way across the gangway. "Maybe you're right. I just made it through military training. Serving on the Cavalry is my first real experience. Not like you. I can't imagine how much you've seen. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"Guess." Delina shot back, still not really wanting to be a part of the conversation.

"Umm…" The Turian began, stammering for a moment as he looked back at the commando. "A hundred?"

"I'm flattered." Delina deadpanned knowing that she looked at least three hundred. The years and violence were taking their toll. "Try older."

"I'm just gonna stop there. You're over a hundred! That's incredible. All the years of experience you've had…" Tivesh shook his head as he opened the airlock. "I bet you have some stories!"

"You could say that."

Before the energetic Turian could bombard Delina with more questions, they were face-to face with Ryala. Dressed in a grey non-combat uniform, the Asari captain smiled faintly as the young trooper saluted, then she began. "Thank you, Tivesh. We've got new intel to sort through. Get down to engineering when you can."

"Yes ma'am!" Tivesh nodded, then turned to Delina and saluted again. "T'Kasan, it's an honor to finally meet you. Hopefully you can share some advice with us at some point."

Delina said nothing and nodded. She really hoped she didn't have to do that, but she held her tongue as the Turian scampered off.

"I see you already have an admirer." Ryala smirked a little, greeting Delina with a warm slap on the shoulder. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"You're about the last person I expected to see here." Delina returned the gesture, realizing she was finally able to relax just a little. "Can't complain, though. I was getting tired of fighting every person who made eye contact with me."

"Sounds like you've made quite a stir on the lower levels. A lot of bandits are trying to organize massive hunts to try and find you." Ryala noted, gesturing back towards the airlock with her hand.

"Yeah, they would. Not like they have anything better to do." The arms specialist grumbled.

"Well, come in. We can probably find a bunk for you and a locker for your kit." Ryala paused, looking Delina over once with some scrutiny. "And… maybe some different clothes. No offense, but you smell like trash."

"None taken." The commando shrugged. "Kind of expected that, really."

"I take it things aren't treating you very well here?"

"To say the least." Delina snorted. "I came here to take out a few bandit clan leaders that were being problematic. Somehow I ended up with half the station wanting me dead, and trying their damnedest to make it happen."

"When did it really start to flare up? When you put a round in Jarvin's head?" Ryala referred to the Batarian slaver who had fled Kar'Shan and taken refuge on Omega and started his own bandit clan. Nightmarish, really. He had made a mess for anyone who wouldn't work with him.

"I think so. A lot of goons looked up to him. Fucking psychopath."

"Well…" Ryala began, trying to lighten the conversation. "All things considered, you look well. Most people wouldn't fare so well."

"Yeah, well… I've spent a lot of years here. Tough times are nothing new." Delina grumbled and then paused, realizing that she ought to ask the Cavalry leader _something_. Just to be respectful. "So how's the Cavalry getting by?"

"We've had a lot of contract work from the Council, still serving as armed transports for rebuild efforts." Ryala explained as they walked down the bridge.

"Still? How much has to be fucking rebuilt?"

"Have you seen Thessia?" Ryala asked. "It's still a disaster. There are still Contractors sulking around under the streets, and we can't organize a strong enough force to crush them out." The captain shook her head. "But the Cavalry itself is going strong. We're up to twenty ships now, nearly four hundred troopers in total."

"Damn. I wasn't sure how many of them would stay with you after Hyetiana." Delina commented as the slowly strode across the main combat intel center and towards the stairs at the back of the room.

"Neither was I." Ryala commented with a chuckle. "It hasn't been easy. We've had a lot of growing pains."

"Yeah?" Delina raised her brow questioningly.

"Yes. I'll be glad to tell you everything later. For now, settle in and we can discuss everything over a proper meal."

"Implying that I haven't been eating proper meals?" The arms specialist growled.

"Well, seeing what you've been up against, I'd say that's a safe assumption." Ryala scowled a little, holding her ground and folding her arms.

"Yeah. You're right." Delina relented. "I'll see you in a few, then."

xxxx

Delina had nabbed a set of Crimson Cavalry ship wear, a sleeveless grey shirt and grey pants, and had cleaned up, getting the majority of the trash smell out of her skin. Her armor would take some work, but she didn't care all that much. She was comfortable as she stretched her arms out in the grey shirt. The charcoal color was a little strange, since most Cavalry armor was, well, crimson. But only a few of Ryala's mercs wore red shirts.

After putting her kit in storage by her bunk, Delina set out to find Ryala in the mess hall. She only got out of the crew quarters before realizing what a strange design the ship was. A single stairway, not elevator, ran right down the middle, splitting off both sides and creating a few inaccessible areas. Thankfully there were only three decks, and the mess hall was just across from the crew quarters.

Another door opened and Delina was there. Compared to the Akina or the Damascus, the mess on Ryala's ship was tiny. Two tables crammed right next to each other. Enough room for people to sit and no more. Very practical. It was also empty apart from Ryala.

The captain sat at one table, dressed similarly to Delina and reading over a tablet. The table was clear except for a plate of mess food.

Even mess food was a treat for Delina.

Ryala looked up from the tablet, set it aside, and with a troublemaking smirk began, "Delina, you do clean up nicely. I barely recognize you from when you came in."

"Yeah yeah yeah…" Delina grumbled as she sat down. She realized how long it been since she had really joked around with someone.

Two years. It had been when Jackson was still on the 517th. He was the last person Delina had been able to banter with without worrying about actually offending them. Rana and Kaira had never been that way. They got all uppity when Delina tried to butt heads with them.

So it took the commando a moment to readjust to dealing with someone with a sense of humor. She realized she was grinning as she dug into her food. "Hell, you saw me on the 517th. All fucking prim and proper."

"That's not the term I would have used, but ok." Ryala laughed. "So. You've been surviving."

"Sure, let's go with that." Delina managed between bites of food. "Going at it alone is a lot harder than I remember."

"Well, coming straight out of a squad of specialists, I'm not too surprised." Ryala commented. "But I've seen the footage. When did you starting using biotics again?"

"Hyetiana."

"I see." Ryala tried to respond to the one-word answer. She figured it was best not to ask why Delina had stopped using them in the first place. "You could probably qualify as an high-level adept and land a slot in about any commando unit."

"Fuck that." Delina began, coughed once on her food, and explained: "I hate commando units. Too much tasked 'do this, do that,' stop and wait bullshit. I made an exception for Kaira."

"You didn't regret that, did you?"

"No, but that was entirely different. The whole deal. Kaira didn't play by the rules, and she knew how life worked out here. It took a lot for us to trust each other." She shook her head. "I couldn't do that again."

Ryala nodded, pensive for several seconds before she spoke again. "If you don't mind my asking… what happened to the 517th?"

Delina stopped mid-bite, glancing up at Ryala out of surprise, then finished what food she had in her mouth. She wasn't offended, just surprised to have someone ask… and have to think about it herself. "We fucking fell apart after the Contractor War. I mean, we were all ready to go our own ways. Kaira gave us a speech on how she couldn't endanger our lives anymore and split. I was tired of being a fucking shipping expert."

"So Kaira just quit being a commando? Just like that?" Ryala asked, shook her head and made her own judgments. "I didn't think she'd quit like that."

"She'd been talking about it for years. The war was just the last punch." Delina answered matter-of-factly. "Last I heard, she went back to Thessia. Was gonna become a priestess or something. Fuck if I know what happened to her."

"And what about Rana – was that her name? The engineer that was with Jackson?"

"No idea. She left about the same time, then fell off the net completely. I doubt she's dead. Probably would have heard if something happened, so I guess she's just laying low."

"I suppose the silence is a good sign." Ryala leaned forward on her elbows, staring into space.

"So," Delina began between bites, "didn't you take some serious losses on Hyetiana?"

"Ended up losing about half of my troops while you were taking out the Contractor."

"Ouch." That was about as sympathetic as Delina got.

"Apart from that, the Cavalry has only gotten stronger. Harder to manage, but we're right up there with the Flamebringers and Crossfire."

Delina laughed. The Flamebringers were a horde of pyromaniac Vorcha that had risen after the Great Rebuild. Crossfire was legit, though. They had survived the GR, so good on them. "At this rate, you might make those vorcha worry about losing business."

"They're already worrying about more than losing their business, believe me." Ryala snorted with dull amusement.

"Sure they are." Delina taunted, pushing the empty plate aside. "So, you wanted to talk to me about a job."

"Right… that." Ryala began, leaning back and folding her hands together. "Well, Delina… I'm not going to lie to you. We're still just mercs. So if you have any issues with that…"

"I have issues with the most mercs." Delina agreed. "But the Crimson Cavalry isn't most mercs. So what do you have in the works?"

"I sort of bent the truth when I told you it was just a job." Ryala admitted, weaving her fingers together.

Delina raised her brow skeptically.

"See… I can only lead so many troops effectively. Now it's getting to a point where I can't quite coordinate everyone. I trust my men, but none of them are quite fit to lead units. None of them have enough experience or guts to take the Cavalry to the level needed if we are to make it in this new galaxy." Ryala explained. "So it's not so much a job as it is a position. And position… that doesn't begin to cover it."

"Continue." Delina prodded, listening intently to the Cavalry captain

"What I'm getting at is: I need someone to lead part of the Cavalry."

"So you want a second in command?" Delina asked and folded her arms. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

"That's up to you. I don't know what you want to do, but I have a considerable amount of confidence in your fighting and motivational abilities. Given the opportunity, I'm sure you could be better leader than myself. I was hoping, if anything, the Cavalry could become a joint operation."

The arms specialist simply stared at Ryala for a minute, trying to read the captain. Ryala seemed to be truthful, but damn. That was a hell of an offer. "You sure about that? You sure a commando that can barely stay on a squad would make a good leader?"

T'Deras was quiet for a moment, then answered definitively. "Yes." A pause. "You don't have to make your mind up right away, but the offer stands."

Delina was quiet for several seconds, thinking and plotting. Ryala didn't seem all that bad to work with. They might actually get along. And running solo just wasn't cutting it anymore. Having the Cavalry for support would let Delina actually get something done. And with a little bit of work, she could make the Cavalry the most well armed and devastating merc forces in the galaxy. That sounded like a win-win-win. "Damn. I never thought I'd agree to be merc."

"A merc leader, no less." Ryala chuckled. "So what do you think? Do you just want to lead a few units, or do you want to take on half of main command?"

"Might as well go all the way." Delina cracked her knuckles. "I'll try my hand at being part of command. Maybe take on some equipment maintenance, too. I want to make sure everyone is running modded weapons."

"Fine by me if it gives us another edge." The captain paused. "We'll have to start going over intel and squads soon."

"I hope you don't mind if I whip your troops back into shape."

"Good. I'll make sure Tivesh is in your main squad." Ryala winked jokingly.

"You ass." Delina grumbled in good humor.

"Get used to it." Ryala shot right back. "And welcome aboard."

xxxx

So there she was, standing in front of a mirror and inspecting the new set of medium armor. Delina didn't hesitate to put the commando leathers into storage. Too many bad memories floated around them. The hard armor was a new start. It was also new and shiny.

The medium armor had a black underweave, glossy crimson armor plating, and a steel grey right arm. Delina had already swapped her weapons and over and tweaked the armor to her liking. Her reflection showed her as if she were ready to drop right into combat. Armored up, shielded, and carrying an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a shotgun and two pistols. The same ones as on Omega.

She was a part of the Crimson Cavalry.

It was strange in a way. Joining a new organization, relying on other people again, having to be responsible and accountable. Yet at the same time, Delina felt a giddy excitement. To be a commander, someone important. She had never really considered being a leader, but now she was starting to realize just how much they would be able to do. She cracked her knuckles as she turned away from the mirror and headed out of the crew quarters. It was time to meet her troops and start a new episode.

_Cavalry Commander_.

The title brought pride to Delina.

xxxx

**A/N: Well, it's been a shorter ride, but hopefully there have been a few insights from all these backstories. I'm not gonna say CE:D is finished; I might have more inspiration to add later. For now, I'm directing my full efforts to the full Chaos Effect sequel.**

…**which still doesn't have a name.**

**Keep life crazy, friend. 3**


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